In this ESL grammar lesson, students learn to use the passive voice without including the subjects of the sentences.
In passive voice constructions, the subject (the performer of the action) is often included to provide context. However, there are situations where omitting the subject is more appropriate or necessary. This typically happens when:
The structure remains similar to the standard passive voice but without the “by + agent” part. Here’s the formula:
Subject (receiver) + to be (in the correct tense) + past participle
The English grammar lesson below explains how and when to omit the subject when using the passive voice, in clear and simple language that is easy for ESL learners to understand. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.
This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on advanced aspects of English grammar (past continuous tense, present perfect tense, present perfect continuous tense, passive voice, embedded questions, relative clauses) in our comprehensive, intermediate- to advanced-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 3: Tenses and More!).
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