Writing Center
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Passive Voice and Verb Tense
Present Tenses
Simple Present
The water is added.
Simple Present
Progressive
The water is being added right now.
Present Perfect
The water has been added already.
Present Perfect
Progressive
The water has been being added for five
minutes.
Past Tenses
Simple Past
The water was added yesterday.
Simple Past
Progressive
The water was being added when the beaker
exploded.
Past Perfect
The water had been added by that time.
Past Perfect
Progressive
The water had been being added for five
minutes when the pump failed.
Future Tenses
Simple Future
The water will be added tomorrow.
Simple Future
Progressive
The water will be being added at 5:00 p.m.
Future Perfect
The water will have been added by tomorrow.
Future Perfect
Progressive
The water will have been being added for five
minutes when he gets here.
Note: For more information on the various verb tenses, please see our handout on this topic.
Passive Voice in Other Verb Forms
In situations where you would normally use the plain form (e.g., an infinitival), form the passive voice using
the plain form of “be” and a past participle.
Active Infinitival (To): You need to heat the water to 100 degrees before being added to the mixture.
Passive Infinitival (To): The water needs to be heated to 100 degrees before being added to the mixture.
Active Infinitival (Bare): You must heat the water to 100 degrees before being added to the mixture.
Passive Infinitival (Bare): The water must be heated to 100 degrees before being added to the mixture.
Note: For more information on the various verbs forms, please see our “Verbs” handout.
Using the Passive Voice Eectively
You may have heard instructors discourage using the passive voice. They do this because many of their
students use the passive voice uncritically. Be sure you have a reason for using it. Use the passive
voice when you want to emphasize that something is receiving an action or when the actor is not
important.
Example: The water was heated to 100 degrees before being added to the mixture.
Note: This sentence focuses on the water and what was done to it. This would be appropriate in a “Methods”
section, where the identity of the agents isn’t necessary.
While the passive voice appears in some scientific writing, keep in mind that the APA’s Publication Manual
encourages use of the active voice. Likewise, editors of journals in most scientific fields prefer the