Editing Passive voice (section)

===In English===
{{Main article|English passive voice}}
English, like some other languages, uses a [[periphrasis|periphrastic]] passive. Rather than conjugating directly for voice, English uses the [[Participle|past participle]] form of the verb plus an auxiliary verb, either ''be'' or ''get'' (called [[linking verb]]s in [[traditional grammar]]), to indicate passive voice.
*The money '''was donated''' to the school.
*The vase '''got broken''' during the fight.
*All men '''are created''' equal.

If the agent is mentioned, it usually appears in a prepositional phrase introduced by the preposition ''by''.
*Without agent: The paper was marked.
*With agent: The paper was marked '''by Mr. Tan'''.

The subject of the passive voice usually corresponds to the direct object of the corresponding active-voice formulation (as in the above examples), but English also allows passive constructions in which the subject corresponds to an [[indirect object]] or [[preposition]] complement:
*We '''were given''' tickets. (subject ''we'' corresponds to the indirect object of ''give'')
*Tim '''was operated on''' yesterday. (subject ''Tim'' corresponds to the complement of the preposition ''on'')
In sentences of the second type, a [[stranded preposition]] is left. This is called the ''prepositional passive'' or ''pseudo-passive'' (although the latter term can also be used with other meanings).

The active voice is the dominant voice used in English. Many commentators, notably [[George Orwell]] in his essay "[[Politics and the English Language]]" and [[William Strunk, Jr.|Strunk]] & [[E.B. White|White]] in ''[[The Elements of Style]]'', have urged minimizing use of the passive voice, but this is almost always based on these commentators' misunderstanding of what the passive voice is.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/passive_loathing.pdf|title=Fear and Loathing of the English Passive|last=Pullum|first=Geoffrey|date=2014|journal=Language and Communication|volume=37|pages=60–74|doi=10.1016/j.langcom.2013.08.009|citeseerx=10.1.1.643.9747}}</ref> Contrary to common critiques, the passive voice has important uses, with virtually all writers using the passive voice (including Orwell and Strunk & White).<ref>
{{cite news
 |title       = Active resistance: What we get wrong about the passive voice
 |first       = Jan
 |last        = Freeman
 |url         = http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/22/active_resistance/
 |newspaper   = [[The Boston Globe]]
 |location    = Boston
 |issn        = 0743-1791
 |date        = 2009-03-22
 |access-date  = 2010-03-01
 |quote       = All good writers use the passive voice.
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100113172942/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/22/active_resistance/
 |archive-date = 2010-01-13
}}
</ref>
There is general agreement that the passive voice is useful for emphasis or when the receiver of the action is more important than the actor.<ref name="MW">{{cite book|author= Merriam-Webster|title= Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage|year= 1989|publisher= Merriam-Webster|pages= [https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersd00merr/page/720 720–21] |isbn= 978-0-87779-132-4|quote=There is general agreement that the passive is useful when the receiver of the action is more important than the doer[...] The passive is also useful when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or perhaps too obvious to be worth mentioning.|title-link= Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage}}</ref>

''[[Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage]]'' refers to three statistical studies of passive versus active sentences in various periodicals, stating: "the highest incidence of passive constructions was 13 percent. Orwell runs to a little over 20 percent in "Politics and the English Language". Clearly he found the construction useful in spite of his advice to avoid it as much as possible".<ref name="MW" />