Section 1 — The News Grammar focus

Session 4 Grammar: Passive constructions and hidden agency

In English news, passive constructions are often used to obscure who is responsible for events — learning to spot this is one of the most powerful critical reading skills.

Grammar Focus

[Event] + [be] + [past participle] — agent absent or vague

The passive voice removes the grammatical agent (the doer) from the sentence, either because they are unknown, or because naming them would be controversial. In journalism, this can be an honest choice (when no one knows who did it) or an evasive one (when someone does know, but doesn't want to say). Structure: Active: "Police shot three protesters." → Passive: "Three protesters were shot." → Evasive passive: "Violence broke out." Spotting evasive passives is a core critical reading skill.

"Mistakes were made." (Who made them?)

"Three people were killed." (Who killed them?)

"The data was leaked." (Who leaked it? Intentionally?)

"Protests turned violent." (Who was violent? Who started it?)

"The policy was implemented." (Who decided to implement it?)

"It was felt that no further action was needed." (Who felt this? Why?)

Variations to practice

Read any news story and underline passive constructions. For each one, ask: Do we know who the agent is? Does the passive choice serve clarity — or evasion?