The agent is obvious or unknown

E.g. I was born in 2000.

My house was broken into.

The agent is "people or things in general"

E.g. Some verbs cannot be used in the Continuous.

The agent is a long phrase

E.g. All the messages of sympathy Helen received surprised her.

Avoiding references to ourselves and making a statement impersonal

E.g. We can't possibly complete this work overnight. =>This work can't possibly be completed overnight.

Avoiding 'you' in orders and rules

E.g. You must give in your application before the end of the week. => All application must be given in before the end of the week.

In factual writing when focus is on events, achievements, rather than agents

E.g. Vaccination had been pioneered 200 years earlier.

BE + p.p = GET + p.p

The action is unexpected, involuntary or unwelcome

E.g. When he picked up the phone, we got cut off

An achievement based on a previous effort

E.g. She got elected.

An achievement in difficulty

E.g. I finally got admitted to hospital. => informal

Not mentioning agent

• Passive sentences: no interest in who/what performs the action

• Focus: the action itself, who/what is affected by the action, the result

  E.g. That window has been broken again.

Mentioning the agent

• When we think the information is important, when we want to say more about it

  E.g. I remember being taken to the fair by my father, who rarely showed any interest in such things.

NO intransitive verbs in passive <=> Transitive verbs are always needed

E.g. The Tasmania tiger was died out early last century.

Some verbs, (explain, suggest) can't change the indirect object into the subject.

E.g. He was explained the procedure. -> They explained the procedure to him.

Some verb phrases with 2 objects cannot be passive

E.g. I bear him with no ill will.

I wish you luck.

Some verbs are followed by 2 nouns, but the second is not an object.

E.g. They declared him President.

Causative verbs: get, have, want, need, ask, order, force, etc.

Active

• HAVE sb inf

• GET sb to-inf

Passive

• HAVE sth p.p

• GET sth p.p

We arrange for somebody to do sth for us

E.g. She goes to hospital and has her blood pressure taken.

She never managed to get her symphonies played.

Unfortunate experiences

E.g. He got his leg broken playing football.

His leg got broken while he was playing football

His leg was broken while he was playing football.