The Passive Voice: Things Get Done (B2)
August 3, 2026 · Sourov · 3 min read
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B2 ⏱ 5 minutes
The Passive Voice: Things Get Done
Working in luxury restaurants — Uccello, Establishment, and The Ivy in Sydney — taught me that precision is everything. In those kitchens and dining rooms, the process mattered as much as the result. The foie gras was sliced by hand, each portion measured to the gram. The sauce was reduced for three hours over a low flame. The table was set with military precision — not a fork out of place. The passive voice was the natural language of that world.
🎯 Aim: By the end of this lesson you will be able to form and use the passive voice across different tenses to describe processes, focus on the action, or omit an unknown or unimportant agent.
🔑 The Form
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | They slice the foie gras. | The foie gras is sliced. |
| Past Simple | A chef reduced the sauce. | The sauce was reduced. |
| Present Perfect | Staff have set the table. | The table has been set. |
| Future (will) | They will serve the dessert. | The dessert will be served. |
| Modal | Someone must clean the kitchen. | The kitchen must be cleaned. |
Formula: be (in correct tense) + past participle
📖 Examples
- The foie gras was sliced by hand. — (past simple passive; agent included with by)
- Every bottle of wine is stored at exactly 12 degrees. — (present simple passive; agent unknown/unimportant)
- The reservation has been confirmed for 8 pm. — (present perfect passive)
- The new menu will be launched next month. — (future passive)
- All dietary requirements must be communicated to the kitchen in advance. — (modal passive)
💡 Key Rules
- Use the passive when the action matters more than who does it.
- Include by + agent only when the agent is important or surprising: The dish was created by the head chef.
- The passive is very common in formal, professional, and academic writing.
- Some verbs are rarely passive: happen, occur, exist, arrive.
✏️ Practice Task
Rewrite these active sentences in the passive voice. Include the agent only if it is given in bold.
- The kitchen team prepares every dish fresh daily.
- A master sommelier created the wine pairing menu.
- They have already cleaned the dining room.
- The manager will brief the staff at 5 pm.
- Someone must polish all the glasses before service.
Show Answers
- Every dish is prepared fresh daily.
- The wine pairing menu was created by a master sommelier.
- The dining room has already been cleaned.
- The staff will be briefed at 5 pm.
- All the glasses must be polished before service.
🚀 Takeaway
The passive voice shifts the spotlight from the person doing the action to the action itself — or its result. It is essential in professional English, from hospitality to business to academic writing. Use it when the process, not the person, is what matters.
Independent project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification. Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours and four written assignments validated to the required standard.
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