Is “was” passive voice?
"Was" on its own is not passive voice. It becomes passive only when a past participle follows it and the subject receives the action: "The report was written." In "She was happy" or "He was running," "was" is a plain linking verb or part of a progressive tense, and both sentences are active.
“Was” is the past tense of “be.” It has three common jobs, and only one of them is passive:
- Linking verb — “The meeting was long.” Active. “Was” joins the subject to a description.
- Past progressive helper — “He was running.” Active. “Was” + an -ing verb describes an action in progress.
- Passive helper — “The window was broken by the storm.” Passive. “Was” + a past participle, and the subject (the window) receives the action.
The quickest check is the word after “was.” An adjective or a noun means a linking verb. An -ing word means progressive. A past participle (written, taken, broken, paid, -ed forms) means passive, unless the participle is really an adjective, as in “she was tired.”
Three sentences, checked
Each example below was run through our engine (v1.0.0). Amber marks the passive construction; a dotted underline marks a “be + participle” that is an adjective, not a passive.
Related forms
- Is “is” passive?
- Is “has been” passive?
- Is “have been” passive?
- Is “had been” passive?
- Is “will be” passive?
- Is “can be” passive?
- Is “could be” passive?
- Is “must be” passive?
See the full list of passive voice verbs and passive voice in all twelve tenses.
Questions people ask
- Is "was" always a sign of passive voice?
- No. "Was" is passive only with a past participle after it. Editors who hunt for every "was" delete progressive tenses and plain descriptions too, and the writing gets worse, not better.
- How do I rewrite "was" + participle in active voice?
- Find the doer, put it first, and change the verb to simple past: "The claim was denied by the carrier" becomes "The carrier denied the claim."