Active and passive: where is the focus?
When the doer isn't important, put the result first.
2 min read · Updated 9/8/2026
The key idea
An active sentence begins with the doer: Workers check the bottles. In a passive sentence, the focus moves to the thing the action affects: The bottles are checked.
The basic structure is be + past participle (the third form of the verb). Be shows the tense: is produced, was produced.
If the doer is important, it can be added with by. If it is not known, or if it is not the point of the text, don't invent it.
See an example
Active: The factory recycles paper.
Passive: Paper is recycled at the factory.
The bridge was built in 2010.
Was shows the past tense, and built is the past participle. Is build and was build are not correct in this structure.
Now you try
Change the sentences into the passive.
- Workers wash the fruit. → The fruit ___ ___.
- They opened the museum in 1998. → The museum ___ ___ in 1998.
Is it necessary to add who the doers were in the second sentence?
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Reveal the answer and explanation
Answer and explanation
- The fruit is washed. Fruit is used here as a general, uncountable noun.
- The museum was opened in 1998. The time is in the past.
Because we do not know who opened it, the by … part is not needed. Use the passive not just to make a sentence “more complicated”, but to draw attention to the right place.
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Official sources for this topic
British Council · Grammar