被動語態: 8 Passive Voice Rules Taiwan Pros Master (2026) | 英文被動式

被動語態 (passive voice) shows up on 41% of TOEIC Reading questions and almost every business email a Taiwan professional sends after 9 AM. Master the pattern be + past participle, learn when to drop the actor, and you stop sounding like a textbook the moment you write a report. This guide breaks down eight passive voice rules with side-by-side active versus passive examples, a 12-tense reference table, the four mistakes Taiwan students repeat, and a quick drill at the bottom.

Practicing passive voice transformations in a grammar notebook.

被動語態 Definition — What Passive Voice Actually Means

The passive voice flips the focus of a sentence away from who did it and onto what was done. In active voice, the subject performs the action: Maggie wrote the report. In passive voice, the original object becomes the subject and the original subject either disappears or moves into a “by” phrase: The report was written by Maggie.

Cambridge Dictionary defines the passive as a construction where “the subject is the person or thing affected by the action.” That single shift carries a lot of weight. It is the difference between blaming a teammate (“Kevin broke the staging server”) and reporting a fact (“The staging server was broken last night”). Taiwanese learners often skip the passive because Mandarin uses 被 sparingly. English speakers — especially in news, science, business reports, and academic essays — use it constantly.

The Core Formula: be + 過去分詞 (Past Participle)

Every passive sentence in English follows one pattern: a form of be plus the past participle of the main verb. Change the tense of the sentence by changing the form of “be” — never the past participle.

Look at the verb “send” across three tenses:

• Hiện tại: The invoice is sent every Friday.
• Quá khứ: The invoice was sent yesterday.
• Present perfect: The invoice has been sent.

The past participle of “send” (sent) never moves. Only the “be” verb changes. Taiwan learners who memorize this single rule jump ten points on the TOEIC Reading grammar section within a month.

Rule 1 — Passive Voice Works in Every English Tense

One of the biggest gaps in Taiwan textbooks is treating the passive as a single grammar point. The passive applies across all 12 English tenses. Below is the full reference using the verb finish.

Taiwan professionals use passive voice in reports, emails, and meetings.

Note that the future continuous passive (will be being finished) and present perfect continuous passive (has been being finished) technically exist, but native speakers almost never use them. Skip those two and you cover 98% of real-world passive usage.

Rule 2 — Drop the Actor When It’s Obvious, Unknown, or Hidden

The strongest reason to choose passive over active is simple: sometimes the actor doesn’t matter, or you don’t want to name them. There are three classic scenarios.

The actor is obvious. “My package was delivered this morning” — of course the courier delivered it; naming UPS or 7-11 adds nothing. The actor is unknown. “My bike was stolen outside the MRT station” — if I knew who took it, I’d say so. The actor needs to stay hidden. “Mistakes were made in the Q3 forecast” — every office in Taipei has heard this one. The passive lets a manager describe a problem without throwing a teammate under the bus, which is exactly why English-speaking executives reach for it during damage control.

Taiwanese students often add unnecessary “by” phrases out of habit. If the actor is obvious, unknown, or politically sensitive, drop it. Cleaner sentence, stronger meaning.

Rule 3 — Use “by + agent” Only When It Adds Real Information

The “by” phrase is optional in passive voice. Skip it unless the actor surprises the reader or carries weight the sentence needs.

Compare these:

• Weak: “The email was sent by someone this morning.” → Just say: “The email was sent this morning.”
• Strong: “The report was written by the CFO herself.” → The “by” phrase signals seniority and matters.
• Strong: “Taipei 101 was designed by C.Y. Lee.” → Names the celebrated architect; useful detail.

A reliable test: read the sentence without the “by” phrase. If meaning is preserved, delete it. Most TOEIC grammar items target this exact judgment, and most workplace emails are 20% shorter once you apply the rule.

Editing active sentences into passive form is the fastest way to learn the pattern.

Rule 4 — Pick Passive for Formal Reports, News, and Academic Writing

Walk through any Reuters or BBC headline and you’ll see passive voice everywhere: “Three suspects were arrested.” “A new vaccine has been approved.” “The bill was passed by the legislature.” This is not a stylistic accident. Journalism and academic writing prize the event over the actor, and the passive does that work in one move.

The same applies to lab reports (“The sample was heated to 200°C”), audit findings (“Three control weaknesses were identified”), and Taiwan’s own bilingual government press releases. If your Master’s thesis advisor at NTU or NCCU tells you “more passive constructions,” they’re aligning you with academic register, not testing grammar. The British Council passive voice reference calls this the “objective tone” function — and it’s the single biggest reason your TOEFL Independent Writing score climbs once you stop writing every sentence in active voice.

Most TOEIC and IELTS grammar books dedicate a full chapter to passive voice.

Rule 5 — Skip Passive in Direct Instructions, CTAs, and Persuasion

Passive voice softens. That’s a problem when you actually want the reader to do something. The truth is, most Taiwan résumés that pile on passive constructions (“Responsibilities were assigned to me”) quietly bury the candidate’s wins. Recruiters skim for verbs of action: led, launched, shipped, closed, delivered. Switch back to active.

The same rule applies to:

• Marketing copy. “Order now” beats “Orders can be placed.”
• Manager emails. “Please send the file by 3 PM” beats “The file should be sent by 3 PM.”
• Job applications. “I led a team of six” beats “A team of six was led by me.”

The Purdue OWL writing center summarizes it well: passive voice is a tool, not a default. Pick it when the action matters more than the actor, drop it when you need the reader to move.

Rule 6 — Modal + Passive (Should Be Done, Must Be Fixed, Can Be Sent)

Combining modal verbs with the passive is one of the most common patterns in business English, and it’s the structure that lets Taiwan professionals sound polished in meetings without sounding accusatory.

The formula is fixed: modal + be + past participle.

Business English leans on the passive when the action matters more than the actor.

• The bug should be fixed before Friday.
• The contract must be signed by both parties.
• The slides can be sent via Slack.
• The launch might be delayed by one week.

Notice how every example avoids naming the responsible person while still moving the work forward. This is exactly the register HR teams, project managers, and government officials in Taipei use every single day.

Rule 7 — Active vs Passive at a Glance: Quick Comparison Table

Print this table or save it as a phone wallpaper. Most students fix 80% of their passive voice errors after staring at side-by-side comparisons for ten minutes.

Rule 8 — The 4 Passive Voice Mistakes Taiwan Pros Repeat

Across thousands of student essays, four passive voice mistakes show up over and over again. They’re worth memorizing because each one is a TOEIC and IELTS trap.

Mistake 1 — Using “be” in the wrong form. Sai: The email be sent. Phải: The email was sent. The verb “be” still has to match the tense and subject. This is the #1 error and overlaps heavily with classic Chinglish mistakes from Mandarin’s 被 structure.

Mistake 2 — Using past simple instead of past participle. Sai: The window was broke. Phải: The window was broken. Irregular verbs require the third form (V3), not V2.

Mistake 3 — Mixing voices in one sentence. Sai: The report was written and she submitted it. Phải: The report was written and submitted (keep both clauses passive) or She wrote and submitted the report (keep both active).

Mistake 4 — Making intransitive verbs passive. Sai: I was happened to be late. Phải: I happened to be late. Verbs with no object — happen, exist, arrive, occur, die, sleep — cannot be passive. Period.

Practice 被動語態 in 3 Quick Drills

Convert these active sentences to passive. Answers appear below.

1. The cleaning crew waxes the lobby floor every Tuesday.
2. By 2030, robots will replace many delivery jobs.
3. Someone has stolen my umbrella again.

Answers: (1) The lobby floor is waxed every Tuesday. (2) Many delivery jobs will be replaced by robots by 2030. (3) My umbrella has been stolen again.

Want one more layer of practice? Rewrite the news headlines on the front page of Taipei Times as active sentences, then flip them back to passive. Twenty minutes a day for two weeks and the pattern becomes automatic.

Meeting English uses passive constructions to soften blame and stay neutral.

Use 被動語態 on Purpose, Not on Autopilot

The fastest way to sound more native is not adding more passive voice — it’s choosing the voice that matches what you actually mean. Default to active for speed, energy, and accountability. Reach for passive when the action outranks the actor, when the actor is obvious or unknown, or when professional softness matters more than directness. The next email you write today is a perfect place to test the rule: open your sent folder, pick three messages, and see whether each verb belongs in active or passive form. That single edit pass is worth more than fifty hours of textbook drills.

Steady passive voice practice builds more natural, native-sounding English.

Nguồn

1. Cambridge Dictionary — Passive Voice — definition and core grammar reference used by Cambridge English exams.
2. British Council LearnEnglish — Passive Voice — clear explanation of when and why English speakers choose the passive.
3. Purdue OWL — Active and Passive Voice — academic writing center guide on choosing between voices.
4. 18K English — English Conditionals: 4 Types Taiwan Pros Master — companion grammar guide for advanced sentence patterns.