Active and passive
Compare these two sentences:
The company was founded in 1925 by Walter Trimble.(passive)
Walter Trimble founded the company in 1925.(active)In the first sentence, the emphasis is on the company, in the second on Trimble. The passive
is used when the writer wants to focus on the result, not on the cause. So the passive is often
used in written English when the cause (a person or thing) is less important or unknown.
Aluminium wasfirst producedin the nineteenth century.(by someone)The currency was devaluedin the 1930s.(due to something)The cause of the action can be shown by adding ‘by.. .’:
The banking crisis was causedby excessive speculation.The passive is also used in written work to provide a more impersonal style:
The findings were evaluated.(not ‘I evaluated the findings’)See Unit 2.13 Style
Passives
UNIT
2.9
The passive form is a feature of much academic writing, making it more impersonal
and formal, but the passive should not be overused. This chapter provides practice
in developing a balanced style.