The Passive Voice

First we need to know what we mean when we say a "passive" sentence. "Passive" sentences can be understood best by contrasting them with "active" sentences. They can express the same idea, but in a different form. Let's take a look at the following two sentences:

John broke the window.
The window was broken by John.

In the first sentence, John is the subject. He is the one who does the breaking, the action which is expressed by the verb.

In the second sentence, the window is the subject, but the window doesn't do the breaking.

The direct object of the "active" sentence becomes the subject of the "passive" sentence. John, the doer of the action, who is the subject of the "active" sentence is expressed in the "passive" sentence by a prepositional phrase ("by" is a preposition).

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