passive voice use

Many students' papers are marked up for passive voice because passive voice is often unclear. It's important to realise that the passive voice is not incorrect grammar, but rather unclear writing style. But, what is it? Passive voice, simply, is when you transform the object of a sentence into a subject. Here's an example to help you visualise:

Active voice:

"Lightning struck the tree." --> The subject is DOING the action.
(Subject and Actor: lightning, Verb: struck (past simple), Object: the tree)

In the passive voice we take the object of an active sentence and make it the subject of the passive sentence.

Passive voice:

"The tree was struck by lightning." --> The subject is RECEIVING the action
(Subject: The tree, Verb: was struck (past simple passive), Actor: lightning)

Use passive voice when:

1) The actor or the agent is unknown -- "My laptop was taken!"

2) The actor is unimportant -- "The film will be produced in Britain."

3) You want to avoid placing blame or responsibility on someone or something -- "Documents were stolen, calls were made, and justice was ignored!"

4) You're stating general knowledge or truth -- "They are made for each other."

5) To place importance on that which is receiving the action -- "The telephone was invented by Bell."

6) You're writing for science as in for a lab report. -- "The soda was mixed with vinegar."

If you would like more examples of the passive in each tense, see below.  Otherwise, if we look at your sentence: Spare parts were taken and used for other similar planes.

This is correct use of the passive voice because the actor (who took the spare parts ans used them) is either unimportant or unknown.  

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Here are examples of the passive in different tenses, compare them with the active voice:

Future simple passive:

- to be (future simple) + past participle.

ex: A cake will be baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky will bake a cake.)

Future progressive passive:

- to be (future progressive passive) + past participle

ex: A cake will be being baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky will be baking a cake.)

Future perfect passive:

- to be (future perfect passive) + past particple

ex: A cake will have been baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky will have baked a cake.)

Present simple passive:

- to be (present simple) + past participle

ex: A cake is baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky bakes a cake.)

Present progressive passive:

- to be (present progressive) + past participle

ex: A cake is being baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky is baking a cake.)

Present perfect passive:

- to be (present perfect) + past participle

ex: A cake has been baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky has been baking a cake.)

Past simple passive:

- to be (past simple) + past participle

ex. A cake was baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky baked a cake.)

Past progressive passive:

- to be (past progressive) + past participle

ex: A cake was being baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky was baking a cake.)

Past perfect passive:

-to be (past perfect) + past participle

ex: A cake had been baked by Becky.
(Active: Becky had baked a cake.)

This is not exhaustive. But, it is a good start. We hope this helps!

Kimberly Joki
Grammarly and Grammarly@edu