In English, there are two voices--active and passive. If the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is said to be in the "active voice"; for example: I stopped. I bathed. The ...

The passive voice is the marked voice: [+Passive], and the active voice is the unmarked or ... The implication is in the \semantics. In (18), for example, the theme is required, but the agent is ...

THE cult of the active voice is one of the most enduring in English grammar. From grade school onwards most everybody is ...

When is it appropriate to use the passive voice? As I said above, it is appropriate to use the passive voice when it clarifies your meaning. Here is an appropriate example: "In the past three decades, ...

Use the passive voice when you don’t know who is doing ... rather than focusing on who or what is doing the action. For example: Le bâtiment a été construit en 1990.

To choose between active and passive voice, consider above all what you are discussing (your topic) and place it in the subject position. For example, should you write "The preprocessor sorts the ...

If it makes sense, congratulations! You’ve probably got yourself some passive voice. For example: Popular grammar guides have ...