ANSWER: Passive verb forms are used to shift the focus off the agent and onto the subject.
There are two nouns in a basic sentence; a subject and an agent. The agent acts on the subject. Here, the subject is bolded and the agent is italicized. I ate <em>cereal.
^ </em>That is an active sentence, because it focuses on the 'I'. Below are examples of passive sentences. <em> </em><em>Cereal </em>was eaten by me. <em></em><em>Cereal </em>was eaten.
^As you can see, sometimes passive sentences don't even contain a subject. This is particularly useful when you want to divert attention from the agent, such as when your sibling asks where the last bit of cereal went (Doesn't <em></em>'The cereal was eaten' sound less guilty than 'I ate the cereal'?)
