Passives

• Maurice hit the rock with his head. (active)
• The rock was hit by Maurice with his head. (passive)
  
• John slugged the fish. (active)
• The fished was slugged by John. (passive)
  
• The construction finished the job. (active)
• The job was finished by the construction company. (passive)
• The job was finished. (passive)
  

• were slugged
• was beaten
• is made
• was buried
• have been reviewed
  

• were slugged . . . by John . . .
• was beaten . . . by the cat's grandma . . .
• is made . . . by left-footed elves . . .
• was buried . . . by the flood . . .
• have been reviewed . . . by the Review Committee . . .

• When you don't know (or maybe don't care) who or what did something:

  
  
  • The worm was squished in the street. [We don't know who or what squished it.]
  • The board was painted red. [We don't know who painted it.]
  • The beaker was filled with 30 cc's of sulphuric acid. [Who cares who filled it with that acid?]
  • The work was done at Zeke's garage. [Who knows who actually did the work?]
  • The bowl was filled with sunshine.

When you want to hide or play down who did what:

• Mistakes were made. [They were made, and no one wants to accept responsibility for them.]
• A decision was made and we all accepted it.

When you need to emphasize something:

• Mistakes were made by congress. Mistakes were made by the President. Such mistakes made us miserable and unhappy and sad. [In this series of sentences, the first two are passive--but we might want to leave them passive because they sort of set up a rhythm, emphasizing the word "mistakes."]

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