passive voice

Cultural  

1. One of the two “voices” of verbs (see also active voice). A verb is in the passive voice when the subject of the sentence is acted on by the verb. For example, in “The ball was thrown by the pitcher,” the ball (the subject) receives the action of the verb, and was thrown is in the passive voice. The same sentence cast in the active voice would be, “The pitcher threw the ball.”

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It is usually preferable to use the active voice wherever possible, because it gives a sense of immediacy to the sentence.

Example Sentences

Aune explained that these examples were often written in passive voice, which shifts responsibility back to human actors rather than the technology itself.

From Science Daily • Apr. 19, 2026

In the courtroom his lawyer read out a carefully written, complicated text, full of caveats, conditionals and the passive voice.

From BBC • Jun. 27, 2023

The passive voice — “was waved off,” “was materially misled” — represents the limits of the reporting, not of the testimony.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2023

But often the narration resorts to the passive voice, leaving out who is performing specific actions: “The first charge has been applied” or “The second charge has been applied.”

From Slate • May 15, 2023

As the linguist Geoffrey Pullum has noted, there is nothing wrong with a news report that uses the passive voice to say, “Helicopters were flown in to put out the fires.”

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker