The passive voice is a key structure for talking about laws, rights and achievements connected to women’s empowerment, especially when the focus is on the action or the person affected rather than on who performs the action. This component reviews how the passive voice is formed and used, and practises turning active sentences into passive ones.
Formation and Use
The passive voice is formed with be + past participle. We use it when the agent (the person or thing performing the action) is unknown, unimportant, obvious, or when we want to focus on the action itself or on the person affected by it — which is common when discussing laws, rights and achievements related to women.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | Society still discriminates against many women. | Many women are still discriminated against. |
| Past simple | Parliament passed the equal pay law in 1970. | The equal pay law was passed in 1970. |
| Present perfect | Activists have achieved great progress. | Great progress has been achieved by activists. |
| Future simple | The government will announce a new policy. | A new policy will be announced by the government. |
Active to Passive Transformation
To change a sentence from active to passive:
- The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
- The verb becomes be + past participle, in the same tense as the active verb.
- The original subject becomes the agent, introduced by by, and is only mentioned when it adds important information.
Example: They elected the first female mayor of the city in 2021. → The first female mayor of the city was elected in 2021. (The agent ‘they’ is omitted because it is unimportant.)
Practice Exercises
Exercise 1 — Put into the passive: ‘Many countries passed laws to protect women’s rights.’
Exercise 2 — Put into the passive: ‘People elected the first female president in 2019.’
Exercise 3 — Fill in the correct passive form: ‘Equal pay ______ (guarantee) by law in most European countries.’
Exercise 4 — Choose the correct passive form: ‘The glass ceiling (is broken / broke) by more and more women every year.’
Exercise 5 — Explain why the agent is kept in this sentence: ‘This report was written by a group of researchers.’
Exercise 6 — Transform into the passive: ‘They will announce the new gender equality policy next month.’
Answer Key
Answer 1 — Laws were passed by many countries to protect women’s rights.
Answer 2 — The first female president was elected in 2019.
Answer 3 — is guaranteed
Answer 4 — is broken
Answer 5 — The agent (‘a group of researchers’) is mentioned because it gives important, relevant information about who did the action.
Answer 6 — The new gender equality policy will be announced next month.
