The active voice is used when the agent (i.e, the doer of the action) is to be made prominent. The passive voice is used when the person or thing acted upon is to be made prominent…
Deconstructing the English Passive presents an analysis of the form and function of the passive construction in English. The book examines the structural ingredients of the passive and emphasizes the notion of an implicit argument, which sets the passive apart from other constructions with non-agentive subjects. The theoretical analysis is supported with corpus data, including a case study of the passive in academic writing.