passive voice

passive voice (passiv): a feature of the verb phrase. The passive voice is marked by the grammatical auxiliary be + past participle. E.g. The little old lady was bitten by her poodle. The subject of a passive clause is typically an affected participant. In the example given here, the agent (=the doer of the action) is specified by means of a prepositional phrase, thus making the passive a long passive. The agent need not be specified, in which case we have a short passive. E.g. John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963. Compare active voice. The relationship between an active and a passive clause can be represented as follows: