10.10 not mentioning the agent

Using a passive form of a verb gives you the option of not mentioning the person or thing responsible for the action, often called the agent of the action.

You may want to do this for one of these reasons:

* because you do not know who or what the agent is

• He's almost certainly been murdered.
• The fence between the two properties had been removed.

* because it is not important who or what the agent is

• I had been told that it would be perfectly quiet.
• Such items should be carefully packed in tea chests.

* because it is obvious who or what the agent is

• She found that she wasn't being paid the same wage as him.
• More people have been treated in hospital this year than at any time since the start of the Health Service.

* because the agent has already been mentioned

• His pictures of dogs were executed with tremendous humour.
• The government responded quickly, and new measures were passed which strengthened their powers.

* because people in general are the agents

• Both of these books can be obtained from the public library.
• It is very strange and has never been adequately explained.

* because you wish to conceal the agent's identity or to distance yourself from your own action

• The original has been destroyed.
• She had been given instructions to moderate her tone.
• The government was forced to say that the report would be implemented.

10.11

In accounts of processes and scientific experiments, the passive is used and no agent is mentioned because the focus is on what happens and not on who or what makes it happen.

• The principle of bottling is very simple. Food is put in jars, the jars and their contents are heated to a temperature which is maintained long enough to ensure that all bacteria, moulds and viruses are destroyed.

10.12

The passive form of reporting verbs is often used in an impersonal 'it' structure, when it is clear whose words or thoughts you are giving or when you are giving the words or thoughts of people in general. See 10.45 in the section on impersonal 'it' structures.

• It was agreed that he would come and see us again the next day.
• It was rumoured that he had been sentenced to life imprisonment, but had escaped.