Master Passive Verbs: Examples & IELTS Strategies

The passive voice is a grammatical construction related to English verbs used when attention is paid to the action or its consequences rather than the performer. Let’s see how passive verbs grammar works in sentences:

The emphasis in an active sentence falls on someone. However, the attention in a passive sentence shifts to the window (action receiver) and the action performed upon it. This makes passive voice ideal for academic writing and other formal writings, like IELTS activities.

How to form passive voice

Let’s check the basic formula where the auxiliary verb “to be” changes depending on the tense, while the main one is always used in the third form:

As you can see from the samples, you can add by + person, but in many passive sentences, it is not added because the person is unknown, obvious, or simply not essential for storytelling.

Let’s take a look at the list of passive verbs and how they are changed in passive voice to understand their nature:

Shifting the focus to the action

So why then do we use passive voice verbs? The answer lies in emphasis: by employing them, our focus is directed to the consequence, the action, or the recipient – the vital element within the sentence.

It is most essential when a writer is writing academic or exam papers since a person needs to adopt an objective tone. The use of the passive voice enables them not to make the sentence appear subjective.

Let’s compare: 

From the perspective of IELTS requirements, the use of the passive voice can help you reduce your over-reliance on vague subjects such as people, they, somebody, we, and success, thereby improving your IELTS band score. This is particularly helpful when addressing trends, research, legislation, public services, education, technology, and society.

There are times when passive voice can be helpful because it makes the sentence flow better, sounds more objective, or more polite. The following are three instances when passive voice is most effective:

• We don’t know who did the action

It can be impossible to name the performer clearly, so verbs in passive voice come in handy, making sentences more natural and clear. Here is a sample of using it with Past Simple:

• The action is more significant than the person

The passive voice is widely used in the realms of science, journalism, and academia as well, since the process or event is generally deemed to be of greater importance than the doer.

• You want to sound more polite or avoid blame

Passive construction can soften criticism because it takes the attention off the person who did something wrong.

The passive construction is very effective in professional writing, business English, and when you need to discuss an issue in an unobtrusive way. One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is to practice with Past Simple exercises since this tense is used a lot in passive voice.

Active vs. passive verbs: what’s the difference?

Both types could be used to represent an identical action; however, they convey different tones and feelings. In terms of passive vs. active voice, the former appears more straightforward, whereas the latter is often considered formal and impersonal. Here is the comparison table:

Therefore, the distinction is not merely grammatical but also in terms of style and intent. Employ active verbs when you wish to convey your message clearly and directly. Use passive verbs when the outcome, process, or event takes precedence over the performer.

Passive verbs seem straightforward from a theoretical point of view. In reality, many students have difficulty grasping how these verb forms vary depending on tense. It is much more effective to consider how the passive voice actually functions in real-life sentences than to learn extensive grammar tables by heart.

Below is a clear breakdown of how these verbs change depending on time, purpose, context, with passive voice examples. 

Present & past tenses

This is the common passive voice used by students in daily English, description, report writing, and the Writing Task 1 process. Let’s check the details on these tenses with real-life examples:

Perfect tenses & modals

They are particularly helpful when you need to express completed events, laws, duties, possibilities, or suggestions in a formal manner and can be used with all tenses, from Past Perfect to simple ones.

In the case of the IELTS test, it is not enough to say that passive voice in English is just “nice grammar.” It can actually enhance your writing style by making your sentences sound more formal, objective, and academic. We will consider passive voice in IELTS writing based on Writing Tasks 1 and 2.

• Writing Task 1: When describing a process, a flowchart, or a natural cycle, passive voice is necessary. Your emphasis needs to be on the object and on how the process takes place. It must not focus on the actor.

Here is a lower-level example with a simple object and subject:

It sounds too simple and narrative, like a story you can read in books. Some of the Band 7.0 sentences are more complicated:

It seems more scholarly since the emphasis is on how the tea leaves will be treated. The identities of those who cultivate and transport the leaves are irrelevant.

• Writing Task 2: Use passive voice in your essay to avoid making it sound subjective. Avoid using I, we, people, or they too often. 

Band 6.0 example:

It is clear but quite personal, so for Band 7.0+, it is better to write like this: 

It makes it seem more formal and academic. Sentences such as “It is believed that,” “It is often claimed that,” and “It is widely argued that” can make it easier to express thoughts in a neutral manner.

For more understanding, take a look at the passive verbs cheat sheet for IELTS:

Based on our experience, there are rarely any difficulties arising from complicated grammatical structures related to passive verb construction. Instead, the issues mostly arise out of mistakes in the sentence formation process.

• Forgetting the auxiliary verb “to be”

One of the biggest errors people make is in the use of the past participle without to be. “To be” is necessary when writing in the passive type because it indicates the tense of the saying.

• Using the wrong past participle

Using the incorrect form of the main verb can also pose as an issue, particularly when dealing with irregular verbs. In passive voice constructions, the main verb should only appear in its past participle form.

• Using passive voice too often

Some students believe that using passive voice makes their work sound more scholarly, and therefore they begin employing it in all sentences. This leads to the composition appearing clumsy, artificial, and difficult to understand.

The passive voice can be hard to learn at first, but once you get the reason for using it, it’s easy. It’s not something you need to simply remember; it’s something that allows you to focus on what is really important.

Passive verbs will help you make your sentences more formal, impersonal, and accurate. Passive construction will make sense for your sentences if you need to use them to add formality, objectivity, and neutrality into your writing, where you don’t know the subject, when the action is more significant than the subject, or you want to be polite.

With enough practice, you will be able to use the passive form without double-guessing and become more native in English. Use our blog and exercises to master your grammar knowledge, and we will see you in the next article.