grammar · academic
be + past participle + by + agent
Passive with agent: passive sentence that explicitly states who performed the action using 'by + agent'.
Examples
“The opera was composed by a famous musician.”
“Many decisions are made by the board of directors.”
“The project was completed by a team of international experts.”
Band 8 sentence
“The policy was introduced by the ministry last year after extensive consultations with stakeholders.”
Collocations
- be + V3 + by + agent
Common mistakes
My book was wrote by him.→My book was written by him.
The cake baked by my mother.→The cake was baked by my mother.
Say it for a higher band
5omit 'by + agent' (The opera was composed.)→6use active (A famous musician composed the opera)→7+be + V3 + by + agent
Easily confused
agentless passive (omit by + agent)
“The regulations were updated recently.”
Related words
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In The passive
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