pastpassive

Pastpassive is a term sometimes used informally to refer to the past passive voice, a verb form that describes an action performed on the subject in the past. In traditional grammar, the construction is known as the past passive or the past tense passive voice. It combines a past tense form of the auxiliary verb be (or a variant like had been) with the past participle of the main verb, producing a phrase that centers the action’s recipient rather than the doer.

Formation and variations: In English, the simple past passive is formed with was or were plus the past participle. Examples include The cake was baked, The letters were mailed. The past perfect passive uses had been plus the past participle (The project had been completed). The past progressive passive is formed with was being or were being plus the past participle (The road was being repaired). Some grammars also describe more complex periphrastic forms that combine tense, aspect, and voice, such as had been being given.

Function and usage: The past passive is used to shift focus from the agent to the action or its result, to describe events where the agent is unknown or unimportant, or to maintain an objective or formal tone. It is common in news reporting, scientific writing, and any context where the emphasis is on the action or its effects rather than on who performed it. The agent can be introduced with by, but is often omitted when obvious or irrelevant.

Cross-linguistic notes: Many languages have passive forms that encode past time, though the exact morphology and word order differ. Some languages use passive markers or periphrastic constructions to indicate past reference, while others rely on verb conjugation to signal voice and tense simultaneously.

See also: passive voice, verb tense, past perfect, past progressive.