Have you ever heard of Juan Manuel Fangio?
He was an Argentinian racing pilot who won five titles in the 1950s.
The headline of this article from The Guardian shows an example of the use of the Passive Voice in English.
As we can see we need two verbs to form the passive voice: BE + verb (past participle).
The verb that is conjugated is the verb TO BE.
Examples:
- Fangio was awarded several prizes.
- Fangio is known for his motor racing victories.
- Fangio's paternity may be settled after his body's exhumation.
- Two men want to be recognised as Fangio's children.
Using the Passive Voice implies focusing on the action rather than on the one performing the action.
We can choose to use the Passive Voice when:
- we don't know who performs the action.
- we think that who performs the action is irrelevant.
- we prefer not to mention who performs the action.
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