Passive: uses

Using the passive allows the speaker or writer to make choices about what is important.

We use the passive for different reasons. We sometimes use it to give focus to something. We can also use it because we don’t know the identity of the ‘doer’ or because it’s not important to know who or what did the action. In addition, we use it to be impersonal and create distance.

We often use passives without agents in academic and technical contexts when the process or actions are more significant than who or what did them:

A sample was taken and injected into a tube.

In this study, children’s eye movements were recorded while they listened to a series of messages.

We often use passive forms of reporting verbs (believe, think, say, consider, find) to create distance from personal statements and focus more on impersonal processes:

Police are looking for a man in his 30s. He is believed to be dangerous.

In some cultures blowing your nose in public is considered impolite.

When we want to give emphasis to something new, we can begin with something which is already known and put the newsworthy or important item at the end, where it can be stressed and given focus:

A:
That’s a lovely chair.

B:
Yes, it’s very old. It was given to meby my grandmother.

I was made to feel very welcome by everyone.