Passive Voice and Active Voice

Passive Voice

The passive and the active voice:

The Active Voice	The Passive Voice
She speaks English.	English is spoken by her.

Use of the passive voice:

1.      Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known. However, who or what is performing the action.

Example: "A letter was written."
The focus, here, is on the fact that a letter was written. We don't know, however, who wrote it.

2.      Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A glass was broken.
The focus, here, is on the fact that a glass was broken, but we don't blame anyone. Compare this to: "You broke the glass."