Teaching the Passive Voice in a Communicative Lesson
- Connor O'Donoghue
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
English language students might first encounter the passive voice when they're still at a low level, but understanding why it is used and how it works can be challenging. For teachers, the passive often raises another question: how can it be taught clearly and communicatively without overwhelming learners with grammar rules?
This article explains what the passive voice is, how it differs from the active voice, how it is formed, and what difficulties learners commonly experience. It also outlines practical ways of teaching the passive voice in communicative lessons.
What Is the Passive Voice?
In English, sentences are often written in the active voice, where the subject performs the action.
The company launched a new product last week.
Here, the subject (the company) performs the action (launched).
In the passive voice, the focus shifts to the person or thing that receives the action.
The new product was launched last week.
In this version, the emphasis is on the product and the event itself, rather than the company that launched it. The agent can still be included if needed (The new product was launched by the company), but in many contexts it is unnecessary or already understood.
Passive sentences are extremely common in real communication. For example:
The building was constructed in 1890.
Your application has been approved.
English is spoken in many countries.
The problem will be discussed tomorrow.
In each case, the passive allows the speaker to focus on the result or the object of the action, rather than the person who carried it out.
Why Do We Use the Passive Voice?
The passive voice serves several communicative purposes.
When the doer of the action is unknown
Sometimes we do not know who performed the action.
My phone was stolen yesterday.
The speaker knows what happened but does not know who did it.
When the doer is obvious or unimportant
In some contexts, the agent is not relevant to the message.
The front door is locked every evening.
The information that matters is that the door is locked, not who locks it.
When the focus is on the result
Passive structures often highlight the outcome of an action.
The opinion poll was taken last week.
The important information is the result of the poll, not the people who conducted it.
In formal, academic, or institutional contexts
Passive structures are frequently used in academic writing, reports, and official communication because they emphasise processes, results, and actions rather than individuals.
The experiment was conducted over three weeks.
In scientific writing, the focus is usually on the procedure and findings rather than the researcher. The passive helps maintain that focus and can create a more impersonal or objective tone.
For learners, understanding these communicative motivations is important and shouldn't be neglected in favour of memorising rules about how the passive voice is formed.
Forming the Passive Voice
The passive voice follows a consistent structure:
subject + form of “be” + past participle
The report was written yesterday.
The windows are cleaned every morning.
The package has been delivered.
The verb be changes depending on the tense, while the past participle remains the same.
Examples across tenses:
Tense | Active | Passive |
Present simple | They build houses. | Houses are built. |
Past simple | They built the bridge. | The bridge was built. |
Present perfect | They have repaired the road. | The road has been repaired. |
Future | They will announce the results. | The results will be announced. |
New teachers sometimes feel pressure to present the passive across every possible tense or structure. In practice, this can lead to long lists of structures that learners do not need.
What matters most is helping students recognise the core pattern of the passive and understand its meaning. Once learners grasp that pattern, they can they can be helped interpret passive forms across different tenses without needing to memorise an exhaustive table of possibilities.
Common Difficulties for Learners
The passive voice presents several challenges for students.
Understanding the change in focus
Learners sometimes see active and passive sentences as interchangeable without recognising the difference in emphasis.
The company launched the product.
The product was launched.
Both describe the same event, but the information focus is different and so they are used in different contexts.
Forming the structure completely
Students might produce sentences that omit the auxiliary verb.
Example error:
The bridge built in 2005.
Learners may remember the past participle but forget the necessary form of be.
Managing multiple auxiliaries
Passive structures can become more complex when other auxiliaries are present.
Example:
The order is being delivered later today.
Here the sentence contains two forms of be (is and being), which many learners find difficult to produce accurately.
Similar challenges appear in sentences such as:
The report has been completed
The problem will be solved
Students must keep track of several grammatical elements at once.
Using past participles
Learners must know the past participle form of verbs, including irregular forms.
Examples include:
built
written
made
taken
Irregular forms can cause difficulty even when the passive structure itself is understood.
Deciding whether to include the agent
Students might overuse by + agent, producing sentences such as:
The road was repaired by the workers.
In many contexts, the agent is unnecessary and usually omitted.
Pronunciation Considerations
Passive sentences often include weak forms of the verb “be”, especially in connected speech. Learners may pronounce was or been using their strong forms in every context, while in natural speech these words are frequently reduced. For example, been is commonly pronounced /bɪn/ in connected speech.
The report has been finished.
Helping students notice these weak forms can improve listening comprehension and make their spoken English sound more natural.
Another pronunciation challenge involves past participle endings, particularly -ed endings:
cleaned /d/
worked /t/
wanted /ɪd/
These patterns are worth highlighting during pronunciation practice.
Appropriacy and Register
The passive voice is especially common in contexts where communication focuses on processes, results, or instructions rather than individual actors.
Examples include:
academic writing
news reports
formal announcements
instructions and procedures
The sentence "Passengers are requested to remain seated." only sounds natural in an official or formal context, but between friends would sound very odd.
In informal conversation, speakers often prefer the active voice unless there is a specific reason to shift the focus. Helping learners recognise these differences supports more appropriate language use.
Teaching the Passive Voice Communicatively
When teaching the passive voice, it is more effective to begin with meaning and context rather than grammar rules.
Use real-world examples
Authentic contexts where the passive naturally appears can make the structure clearer for learners.
Examples include:
news headlines
historical facts
product descriptions
crime reports
scientific discoveries
Example headlines:
Two people were rescued from the river.
A new airport has been approved.
Students can discuss what happened and why the passive is used.
Encourage noticing
Learners can analyse short texts and identify passive sentences.
Useful questions include:
What is the main focus of the sentence?
Is the agent mentioned?
Why might the passive be used here?
Introduce form after meaning
Once learners understand the communicative purpose, the teacher can highlight the structure:
be + past participle
Short practice activities can help learners manipulate the form.
Use information-gap activities
Communicative tasks can encourage meaningful use of the passive.
Example activity:
Students receive incomplete historical facts and ask questions (from students who have the answers) to complete them.
The Eiffel Tower was built in ______.
The Mona Lisa was painted by ______.
This type of task encourages students to use the passive for genuine information exchange.
Choose a manageable focus
At lower levels, teachers often introduce the passive through a limited set of examples such as the present or past simple.
At higher levels, learners will encounter the passive in a wider range of contexts. Instead of presenting every possible tense combination, it is often more useful to help students recognise the passive pattern and interpret it across different structures.
Conclusion
The passive voice plays an important role in English communication, particularly when speakers want to emphasise results, processes, or events rather than the people responsible for them. In communicative lessons, teachers can support this understanding by introducing the passive through meaningful contexts, highlighting the core structure of be + past participle, and providing opportunities for learners to use the structure in realistic tasks.
If you want to learn how to teach grammar like the passive voice clearly and communicatively, a CELTA course provides practical training in classroom techniques and lesson design.
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