We form the passive using BE in an appropriate tense or form + the past participle of a transitive verb:

A small sum of money was stolen from the cash box.
They ought to have been punished more severely.
Having been beaten in the semi-final, she flew home the next day.

• In spoken English, we sometimes use get instead of be in the passive:
They got told off for making so much noise.

• However, get + -ed is more common with an active meaning similar to 'become' in phrases like get dressed, get married, etc. (See Section 3.2).

In English, the topic or subject matter is commonly at the beginning of the sentence, and new information about the subject is normally at the end. In an active sentence, the 'agent' (the person or thing that performs the action) usually comes first and is the subject of the sentence:

Subject (Agent)	Action	Result
Olympiakos	scored	the first goal.

This active sentence is principally about Olympiakos.

• In the passive, the result or thing affected by the action comes first and is the subject of the sentence:

Subject (Result)	Action	Agent
The first goal	was scored	by Olympiakos.

This passive sentence is principally about the goal. We choose between active and passive because of the topic we are talking about, especially when reporting information. An English newspaper, assuming its readers are interested in the England football team, makes the England team the topic. It is likely to report:

England have been beaten by Germany in a penalty shoot-out.

A German newspaper, more interested in their own national team, is likely to report:

Germany has beaten England in a penalty shoot-out.

Other reasons for using the passive include:
• the agent is unknown or obvious (see also Section 1):
I was born in 1982.
Coffee will be made available after the meal.
• the agent is 'people or things in general':
Some verbs cannot be used in the Continuous.
• the agent is a long phrase:
Helen was surprised by all the messages of sympathy that she received.
• avoiding references to ourselves and making a statement impersonal:
We can't possibly complete this work overnight.
becomes:
This work can't possibly be completed overnight. (=the work is the problem, not us)
• avoiding "you" in orders and rules:
You must give in your application before the end of the week.
becomes:
All applications must be given in before the end of the week.
• in factual writing when the focus is usually on events, achievements, etc. rather than agents:
Vaccination had been pioneered two hundred years earlier.

Watch out! • Not all be + -ed forms are passive. They may be adjectives: I was worried we would be late because of the traffic. • We avoid passive constructions with be being or been being, although they sometimes occur in spoken English: Avoid: The road will have been being repaired for months.- INCORRECT They will have been repairing the road for months. or: The road will have been under repair for months.- CORRECT