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'?)
Hope this helped!
For the answer to the question above asking what p<span>eace, discipline, freedom, and equality are all examples of?
The answer to this question is Democratic Values.
I hope my answer helped you. Feel free to ask more questions.
Have a nice day!</span>
The ballad convention that Dudley Randall uses in "Ballad of Birmingham" is using an innocent questioner and a wise respondent.
