Reference · module 21
It was made here
Everything this module explains, on one page.
be plus the third form
Say what is done without saying who does it.
- The passive is be plus the third form: The car is washed. The letter was sent. Two words, and the be carries the tense.
- What was the object becomes the subject. Somebody sent the letter turns into The letter was sent, and the sender disappears.
- Every tense works: it is made, it was made, it has been made, it will be made. Only the be changes, and the third form never does.
The mistake you are about to make
The car washes every week.
The car is washed every week.
Many languages build a passive by adding something to the verb itself. English adds a whole word in front: be, plus the third form.
by somebody
Name the doer when it matters.
- If the doer matters, by names it: The book was written by a Russian author. by goes at the end, after the verb.
- Most of the time it is left out, and that is the point of the passive: My bike was stolen. Who stole it is exactly what you do not know.
- So the passive is right when the doer is unknown, obvious or unimportant. English is not fond of it otherwise, unlike some languages.
The mistake you are about to make
The book was written from a Russian author.
The book was written by a Russian author.
Several languages use something here that translates as from or of. English uses by for the person who did it, and nothing else.
Where you will meet it
Read the places where English uses the passive most.
- News uses it to report without accusing: Three people were arrested. Nobody has said who did the arresting or why.
- Processes use it because the doer is irrelevant: The coffee is picked, dried and roasted. Each step matters and the workers are not the story.
- And it is said that is how English reports a rumour without owning it. It is thought, it is believed, it is expected — all the same shape.
The mistake you are about to make
Three people were arrested by the police.
Three people were arrested.
Naming the doer undoes the point of the passive, which is chosen to leave them out. If the by phrase is obvious, drop it.
I had it repaired
Say somebody else did the work for you.
- I had my car repaired means somebody repaired it for me. I repaired my car would mean I did it myself, which is a different claim.
- The order is fixed: have, the thing, the third form. have my car repaired, never have repaired my car — that is a different tense entirely.
- get does the same job and is more casual: I got my hair cut. Both are used and neither is more correct.
The mistake you are about to make
I repaired my car. (at a garage)
I had my car repaired.
One sentence covers both doing it and paying for it in many languages. English separates them: I had my car repaired says somebody else did the work.