Syntax & Word Order
Passive Voice
A construction in which the subject receives the action: “mistakes were made.” It can leave the actor unnamed or name the actor in a “by” phrase.
"…upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty" — agency diffused into the passive participles
Don't confuse it with. Not every 'to be' + participle is passive ('he was tired' is adjectival); the test is whether an agent has been displaced.
Examples
The bridge was repaired by local workers.
The subject receives the action; the workers performing it appear in a by-phrase.
Often used alongside this device
Explore devices that often appear in the same passages as passive voice.
Anaphora 16 Metaphor 14 Parallelism 13 Litotes 13 Personification 10 Asyndeton 10 Synecdoche 9 Hyperbole 9
The rest of the family
Hyperbaton Anastrophe Periodic Sentence Cumulative (Loose) Sentence Parataxis Parenthesis Apposition / Appositive Zeugma Hendiadys Pleonasm Enumeration / Accumulatio Cleft Sentence