Passive voice appears in virtually every IELTS Academic Reading passage and is expected in high-band Writing. Students who avoid it — or use it incorrectly — limit their Grammatical Range score. Here's when to use passive voice and how to use it accurately.
Why Passive Voice Matters for IELTS
Academic English uses passive voice to sound objective and focus on results rather than actors. Compare: "Scientists discovered penicillin" (active) vs "Penicillin was discovered by scientists" (passive). In academic writing, the second version is preferred because the focus is on the discovery, not who discovered it.
For IELTS Writing, using passive voice appropriately signals academic register — a key component of Lexical Resource.
When to Use Passive Voice
- When the agent (who does the action) is unknown or unimportant: "The data was collected over six months."
- When the result is more important than who caused it: "The new policy has been implemented in over 40 countries."
- For describing processes (common in Task 1): "The material is heated to 200°C, then filtered through a mesh."
- In academic writing when you want to avoid first-person: Instead of "I found that..." use "It was found that..."
How to Form Passive Voice
Structure: subject + to be (in appropriate tense) + past participle
- Present: "The results are analysed."
- Past: "The experiment was conducted in 2021."
- Present perfect: "The policy has been introduced."
- Future: "Further research will be carried out."
- Modal: "The data should be interpreted carefully."
Common Errors
- Using "by" when the agent is obvious or unnecessary. "The cake was eaten by me" sounds unnatural. Omit "by + agent" unless it's important.
- Wrong past participle form. "The results were showed" (wrong) → "were shown" (correct). Know irregular past participles.
- Passive with intransitive verbs. "The accident was happened" is wrong — "happen" is intransitive and can't be made passive.
IELTS Reading: Identifying Passive Voice
In Reading, passive voice can create comprehension challenges. "Deforestation has been linked to climate change" — who linked them? Often it's "researchers" or "studies" — implied but not stated. Recognising this structure helps you understand academic texts faster.
Related Guides
→ Conditionals for IELTS · Relative clauses · Academic vocabulary