Present Tense Passive Voice Explained

Study Notes

Present Tense Passive Voice

The present tense passive voice is a grammatical structure used to convey information about actions taking place now or habitually. In this perspective, the action being reported is more important than who performs it. As such, sentences using the present tense passive voice often omit the subject of the sentence entirely or replace it with phrases like 'it' or 'there'. This can make them sound impersonal, which may be useful for certain contexts where specific actors don't need to be emphasized.

Here are some examples of how the present tense passive voice would appear:

"There are many people currently studying at the university."
"It is raining today."
"Several new laws have been enacted recently."
"A lot of progress has been made over the past year."
"Many children ride their bikes every day after school."

In these cases, we focus on what happens rather than who does something. For instance, when we say "many people study," we don't name any individuals; instead, we describe what they do. Similarly, when we say "it rains" or "laws get passed", we talk about events without mentioning specific agents behind those happenings.

This construction makes sense when you want to highlight the process itself and ignore details like identity or personhood. It's particularly common in scientific writing because scientists usually care less about the identities of species observed and more about general phenomena happening around them. The same applies to legal text, where we might refer to legislation without naming its creators directly. Lastly, literary uses of passivity could also involve showing character traits through avoiding direct statements - if someone prefers hiding things from others, employing passivity might seem appropriate.

Description

Learn about the present tense passive voice, a grammatical structure focusing on actions happening in the present without emphasizing the doer. This style is commonly used in academic, scientific, and legal contexts to underscore the action rather than the agent carrying it out.