Passive voice — sirf grammar nahi, ek professional choice hai
10 min read
Intermediate
6 practice questions
Written by
Maninder Thind·13 years in British corporate English, London·
Learn when to hide the doer: passive voice isn't "the formal version" of every sentence. It's a specific tool for shifting focus away from who did something and onto the result — which is exactly what professional emails and reports rely on.
“The mistake was made by me” — technically correct, professionally odd
Passive voice in English का इस्तेमाल तब होता है जब action पर focus करना हो, न कि करने वाले पर। You’re explaining a delay to your manager. You’ve been taught that passive voice sounds more formal, more polished — so you reach for it:
“The deadline was missed by me because the vendor was late.”
Grammatically fine. But it reads strangely — stiff, almost like you’re distancing yourself from your own sentence. Meanwhile, in the same conversation, this happens:
“The deadline was missed because the vendor was late.”
Same facts. One word removed — “by me” — and suddenly it sounds like normal, professional English.
Passive voice हर जगह “ज़्यादा formal” नहीं बनाती — यह सिर्फ एक काम करती है: sentence का focus doer से हटाकर action या result पर डाल देती है। जब doer पहले से पता है और matter करता है (जैसे “मैं”), passive अक्सर awkward लगती है।
Passive voice isn’t a formality upgrade you sprinkle onto sentences. It’s a specific tool — for a specific job. This lesson is about knowing exactly when that job needs doing.
✗ What you say
“The deadline was missed by me.”
The doer (you) is known, relevant, and right there in the sentence — passive just adds distance for no reason.
“Formal sounds karna hai” wali soch — but yahan zaroorat nahi
✓ What you should say
“The deadline was missed because the vendor was late.”
Passive works here — the focus is correctly on the missed deadline, not on assigning blame to a person.
Focus result par hai, doer par nahi — yehi passive ka asli kaam hai
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Why Your Brain Does This
Hindi में passive मौजूद है — पर rule अलग है
🧠
Hindi Brain Mapping
पत्र लिखा गया।
Hindi already has passive voice — “गया/गयी/गए” does exactly this job. So passive itself isn’t the confusing part for Hindi speakers. What’s confusing is when English reaches for it — because English schooling in India often taught passive as “the formal version” of any sentence, rather than as a tool with one specific job: shifting focus away from who did something.
English uses passive voice for three real reasons — not “to sound formal”:
The doer is unknown.“My phone was stolen.” (No idea who did it.)
The doer is obvious or irrelevant.“The building was built in 1990.” (Nobody cares which construction workers, specifically.)
The result matters more than the doer.“The report was submitted on time.” (What matters is that it happened — not who exactly clicked send.)
If none of those three apply — if the doer is known, relevant, and worth naming — active voice is almost always the better choice, formal or not.
3
Watch It Transform
एक sentence, दो तरीके — देखिए क्या बदलता है
Tap between Active and Passive below. Notice exactly what moves: the doer and the receiver swap positions, and the verb gains “to be” plus a past participle.
The finance teamapprovedthe budget
Active voice — the doer (finance team) is the subject, right at the front. This is the default, natural structure.
Doer
Verb
Receiver
The formula behind what you just saw:
The Passive Formula
[receiver] + to be + past participle + (by [doer])
The doer never has to appear at all. “The budget was approved.” is a complete, correct sentence — “by the finance team” is optional information you add only when it’s worth naming.
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Same Rule, More Examples
रोज़ की गलतियाँ — same three checks, हर बार
What you say
What to say
Why — same rule
“The email was wrote by me yesterday.”
“I wrote the email yesterday.”
The doer (you) is known and relevant — no reason for passive here. Also: “wrote” is wrong anyway; passive needs the past participle, “written.”
“The company is founded in 2015 by three engineers.”
“The company was founded in 2015 by three engineers.”
Passive is correctly used here — but the tense is wrong. A completed past event needs “was founded,” not “is founded.”
“Someone stole my laptop from the office.”
“My laptop was stolen from the office.”
The doer is unknown — exactly what passive is for. “Someone” is a weak, unnecessary filler subject; passive removes it cleanly.
“The new policy was decided by the management team last week.”
“The management team decided the new policy last week.”
The doer is known and worth naming — this reads more directly and confidently as active voice.
“Mistakes are happened in every project.”
“Mistakes happen in every project.”
“Happen” isn’t a transitive verb — it has no object to turn into a subject, so it can’t take a passive form at all. Not every verb can be made passive.
⚡
The one-second test
Before you use passive, ask: “Is the doer unknown, obvious, or unimportant here?”
Yes → passive is the right tool.
No, the doer matters and is known → active is almost always better, even in formal writing.
“Formal” और “passive” एक जैसी चीज़ नहीं हैं — यह याद रखना ही सबसे बड़ा fix है।
5
British Workplace Context
When this really matters — 3 everyday British moments
📋 Scenario — Writing a status report
“What’s the update on the client project?”
✓“The first milestone has been completed. The next phase is scheduled for Monday.” — Passive throughout. In status reports, the process matters, not who personally did each step.
✗“I have completed the first milestone.” — Not wrong, just a different register. In a written report (versus a spoken update to your own manager), the passive version usually reads as more standard.
📋 Scenario — Owning a mistake without over-apologising
“The client noticed an error in the invoice.”
✓“An error was made in the invoice, and it’s now been corrected.” — Passive, doer omitted entirely. Professional, calm, doesn’t dwell on blame — while still being honest that an error happened.
This is genuinely useful passive — not evasive, just appropriately focused on the fix rather than the fault.
📋 Scenario — Describing how your company works
“How are expense claims processed?”
✓“Claims are reviewed within 48 hours and approved by the finance team.” — Passive for the process step (“are reviewed” — reviewer isn’t the point), active where the doer is worth naming (“approved by the finance team” — useful to know who).
Real professional English often mixes both in the same sentence, choosing each one for a reason — not applying either one as a blanket rule.
🧠 Memory Anchor
“Passive hides the doer on purpose — not out of politeness.”
If you can’t answer “why am I hiding the doer here?” with a real reason, you probably want active voice instead.
जब भी confuse हो — बस पूछो: “doer यहाँ matter करता है क्या?” हाँ तो active, नहीं तो passive।
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Practice Quiz
Test Yourself
Active or passive — which one fits?
Your score
0/6
Q1 — You’re telling your manager directly what you personally did this morning: “___”
Q2 — You come back to find your desk has been rearranged and have no idea who did it: “___”
Q3 — Which sentence is correctly formed?
Q4 — You’re announcing a company-wide policy change in an email. The specific person who decided it isn’t important to mention: “___”
Q5 — Translate naturally for a report: “टीम ने प्रोजेक्ट को समय पर पूरा किया” (the team’s identity matters and should be credited)
Q6 — Why can’t “Mistakes are happened in every project” ever be correct, even with the right tense?
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Key Takeaways
What to remember from this lesson
1
Passive voice isn’t “the formal version” of a sentence — it’s a specific tool for shifting focus away from the doer and onto the action or result.
2
Use passive when the doer is unknown (“My phone was stolen”), obvious/irrelevant (“The bridge was built in 1990”), or when the result matters more than who did it (“The report was submitted on time”).
3
If the doer is known and worth naming — especially if it’s you, or someone deserving credit — active voice is almost always the better, more direct choice.
4
The formula: [receiver] + to be + past participle + (by [doer]). The “by” clause is always optional — include it only when the doer is worth mentioning.
5
Not every verb can be made passive — only verbs that take a direct object (transitive verbs). “Happen,” “arrive,” “exist” have no object to promote to subject, so they simply can’t form a passive sentence.