Teaching the passive voice went from not on my radar to one of my favorite things to teach!
I’m about to admit something embarrassing.
When I first started teaching adult ESL, I had no idea what active versus passive voice was. None. Zero. I used both all the time when I spoke and wrote, but I couldn’t have explained the difference to save my life.
Then I had to teach it, and I panicked. Like full-on, stay-up-until-2am-googling panic. Because how do you teach something you can’t even define? So I studied. And slowly, lightbulbs started clicking on.
All those times students had asked me “Teacher, where is the subject?” and I’d confidently pointed to a word and said, “See this? You know it’s the subject because it does the verb’s action”… and then I’d get this confused look because OBVIOUSLY that word wasn’t doing anything. It was having something done TO it.
Yeah. Those were passive sentences. And I’d been explaining them completely wrong. (My education up to that point had been… let’s call it less than stellar. Linking verbs also threw me for a loop, if we’re being honest.)
The Part Where I Almost Didn’t Teach It At All
Here’s the thing though. Once I finally understood the difference between active and passive, I wasn’t convinced I should even teach it because every grammar book I read said the same thing: passive voice is BAD. Active voice is GOOD. Use active whenever possible. Passive makes your writing weak and unclear and basically ruins everything.
But that’s wrong.
Passive voice isn’t inferior. It’s not a grammatical defect. It’s a tool, and sometimes it’s exactly the right tool for the job.
And for real? Our students NEED to know this. Not just the grammatical structure (though sure, that too), but when and why to use it. Because the real world uses passive voice All The Time, and if we’re teaching our students that it’s always or even usually wrong, we’re doing them a serious disservice.
7 Reasons Why You Really Do Need to Teach Passive Voice
It Makes Everything Else Click Into Place
Teaching passive voice is like giving a mouse a cookie. (Stay with me here.)
You start explaining that the subject doesn’t always do the action, and suddenly students want to know WHY. They want to understand the rules. They want to know the exceptions. And then they hit you with “But what if it’s like this…?” and you’re off explaining verb tenses and object pronouns and sentence structure.
In a good way.
Because passive voice forces students to really understand how sentences work. What IS a subject, really? What’s an object? How do verbs change based on their relationship to other words? It’s not just memorizing a formula. It’s genuine grammatical insight.
Plus, when they finally get it, they stop asking why “The report was written” doesn’t have anyone doing the writing. They START noticing passive constructions everywhere. In news articles. In emails from their bosses. In academic papers.
That’s when you know they’ve got it.
Your TOEFL-Obsessed Students Will Thank You
Look, standardized tests love active and passive voice questions. TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge exams… they all test whether students can identify and manipulate both voices.
For some students, that’s all the motivation they need. Tell them it’s on the test, and suddenly they’re taking notes like their visa depends on it. (Because sometimes it does, indirectly.)
But even for students who aren’t test-focused, this skill matters. Academic writing is full of passive constructions. Professional writing uses it strategically. Understanding both voices isn’t just about passing exams. It’s about functioning in English-speaking academic and professional environments. But it goes even further than that!
Because the Real World Uses Passive Voice
I made it to my 30s without consciously knowing what passive voice was, so clearly it’s not that important, right?
WRONG.
Understanding when to use active or passive can be crucial in professional settings. Critical.
Imagine you’re writing an email to your entire company about a mistake. You could write: “Our team forgot to submit the quarterly report.” (Active. Direct. Also throws your team under the bus.)
Or you could write: “The quarterly report was not submitted on time.” (Passive. Acknowledges the problem without explicitly blaming anyone.)
See the difference? Same information, completely different tone. One points fingers. The other focuses on the problem and implies we’re moving forward to fix it.
Native speakers do this instinctively. Your ESL students will too, once they get a handle on it. Students who understand passive voice can make strategic choices in their writing AND their speaking. They can adapt to different contexts and audiences. They can write the kind of professional emails that don’t accidentally start workplace drama and speak up during meetings without creating insta-enemies.
That’s a real skill with real applications.
Using Passive (when appropriate) Makes Them Better at Everything
Mastering active and passive voice contributes to overall language proficiency. (Yeah, I know that sounds like something from a textbook. Bear with me.)
If you only teach students how to identify and avoid passive voice, you’re giving them half the toolkit. They’ll be able to write clear, direct sentences, sure. But they won’t be able to match the formality of an academic paper. They won’t catch the subtle shade when someone says “mistakes were made” instead of “I made a mistake.” They won’t understand why news articles are written the way they are.
Teaching both voices enhances their ability to express themselves accurately and appropriately across different contexts. It’s not just about grammar. It’s about communication.
They’ll Finally Understand What They’re Reading
Here’s something I didn’t expect: teaching passive voice dramatically improves reading comprehension.
Academic writing is FULL of passive constructions. Scientific papers, research articles, technical reports… they’re everywhere. “The experiment was conducted…” “The data were analyzed…” “Results were obtained…”
Students who don’t understand passive voice struggle with these texts. They get confused about who’s doing what. They miss key information. They slow down trying to puzzle out sentence structure instead of focusing on content.
Once they understand passive voice? Those texts become readable. Suddenly they can focus on the actual information instead of getting stuck on grammar.
This matters especially for students planning to attend university or work in technical fields. They’re not all going to be English literature majors, but they need to read and understand formal, academic, professional texts written in passive voice.
It Makes Their Writing More Flexible
When students understand both active and passive voice, they gain flexibility and control over their writing.
They can vary sentence structure to maintain reader interest. They can choose the voice that best serves their purpose. They can sound formal when they need to and direct when that’s more appropriate.
This is particularly important for formal writing contexts. Scientific reports, technical documentation, policy papers… these often require or strongly prefer passive constructions. Students who only know active voice will struggle to match the expected register.
Passive Voice Pushes Them to Think Critically
Analyzing and producing sentences in both voices requires critical thinking. This goes way beyond memorizing grammar rules.
When I teach passive voice, I don’t only want students to identify it or convert sentences from one voice to another. I want them to think about WHY a writer chose passive in a particular context. What effect does it create? What would change if we switched to active?
That kind of analysis requires students to think deeply about how language functions. They have to examine sentence structure, consider nuances of meaning and emphasis, and understand subtle differences in tone.
This is higher-order thinking. This is the kind of language awareness that separates students who can pass a grammar test from students who can truly USE English effectively in real situations.
When Passive Is Genuinely Better Than Active
Thousands of grammar teachers are rolling in their graves right now, but I’m going to say it anyway and say it LOUDLY:
Active voice is NOT always the better choice.
-says Me
Sure, active is often preferred for clarity and directness. And yes, when active voice is the right choice, passive constructions can sound convoluted and awkward. I’m not arguing with that.
But there are situations where passive voice is not just acceptable but completely PREFERABLE. Sometimes choosing passive over active makes your communication more effective, more appropriate, and more strategic.
Understanding these situations makes students skilled communicators instead of robotic “always use active voice” parrots.
When the Action Matters More Than the Actor
Sometimes the emphasis should be on what happened, not who did it.
Scientific writing is full of this: “The experiment was conducted over six months.” Do we care exactly which lab assistant ran the experiment? Not really. The process and results matter, not the individual.
Policy announcements use it too: “The new attendance policy was implemented last week.” Who implemented it? The administration, presumably, but that’s not the point. The point is that there’s a new policy and you need to follow it.
Crime reports lean on passive voice heavily: “My catalytic converter was stolen last night.” Who stole it? No idea. That’s why I’m filing a police report instead of chasing down the thief. By using passive, I keep the focus on the problem (my missing converter) rather than the unknown perpetrator.
“She was robbed between 3 and 4 am.” The perpetrator might be unknown, or the information might be intentionally withheld because there’s an active investigation. Either way, passive keeps attention on the crime itself.
Being evasive? Nope. That’s being strategic about emphasis.
When You Need to Sound Formal and Objective
Passive voice creates objectivity by removing the writer’s personal presence from the sentence.
Academic writing uses this constantly to discuss general truths or present information without attributing it to a specific person:
- “This approach is considered effective.” (By whom? By experts in the field, generally. But we don’t need to say “Dr. Cho and Dr. Jones consider this approach effective.”)
- “It is widely accepted that exercise improves health.” (Accepted by everyone. Common knowledge. No need to specify who accepts it.)
- “The significance of this research is widely recognized.” (Recognized by the academic community as a whole.)
Journalism uses passive for similar reasons. It creates that objective, authoritative tone we associate with news reporting.
Sometimes passive voice isn’t just appropriate. It’s the better choice.
When You Need to Avoid Pointing Fingers
This is where passive voice becomes genuinely powerful in professional contexts.
Passive can soften negative information or distribute responsibility more broadly. This is often essential in diplomatic or professional communication.
Compare these:
- “The manager forgot to submit the report on time.” (Active. Direct. Also completely throws the manager under the bus. Everyone now knows exactly who screwed up.)
- “The report wasn’t submitted on time.” (Passive. Acknowledges the problem without explicit blame. We can focus on solutions instead of pointing fingers.)
Or these:
- “We didn’t do it because it’s not in our job description.” (Active. Sounds defensive. We’re the subject, so it feels like we’re making excuses.)
- “The task wasn’t completed because it’s not within the scope of our job description.” (Passive. States facts. Removes defensiveness. Focuses on the task and its parameters rather than on us.)
Imagine if your student had been writing incident reports at work that kept getting her in trouble with upper management because they sounded too accusatory. “John broke the equipment.” “The night shift left the doors unlocked.” “Marketing didn’t send the files.”
After she understands passive voice, she would write everything differently: “The equipment was broken during the evening shift.” “The doors were left unlocked overnight.” “The required files were not received by the deadline.”
Same information. Completely different tone. Suddenly her reports focused on problems and solutions instead of blame and excuses. And now she looks more professional.
That’s the power of understanding passive voice strategically.
The Bottom Line
Teaching passive voice isn’t about telling students to avoid active voice. It’s not about making their writing unnecessarily complicated or formal.
It’s about giving them options. Choices. Strategic tools for different situations.
When you understand both active and passive voice, you can adapt to different rhetorical situations and audiences. You can write clearly when that’s appropriate and formally when that’s required. You can emphasize actions or actors depending on your purpose. You can soften blame or take direct responsibility based on context.
That’s sophisticated communication. That’s what we should be teaching.
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
Need some ready-to-use active/passive voice resources?
These are available in my TpT store:
grammar guide & worksheets . . . | | | . . . presentation . . . | | | . . . linguistic investigation . . . | | | . . . activities . . . | | | . . . task cards
More about teaching adult ESL grammar
6 Exciting Subject-Verb Agreement Games & Activities for Adult ESL
The Past Perfect Tense: A Pain in the Past, but a Necessity for the Present
