When you describe an action, you can either use the active or the passive voice, depending on the focus of your sentence.
The most common way we use to express something is in the active voice.
It is the typical word order in a sentence: The subject comes first. This can also be called the topic or theme and is the "doer" of the verb.
➡️ My family built a number of houses in the early 2000's.
➡️ The rain damaged the plants in the garden.
💡 here, "my family" and "the rain" is the subject/theme
When we express something in the passive voice, the typical word order changes. The person or thing the action was done to takes over the role of the topic or theme.
We can drop the "doer" of the active sentence or transform it into the form by + doer.
The standard form of the passive is be (conjugated) + -ed:
➡️ A number of houses were built in the early 2000's. (leaves out the doer)
➡️ The plants were damaged.
➡️ A number of houses were built by my family in the early 2000's. (by + doer)
➡️ The plants were damaged by the rain.
Another form of the passive voice is get (conjugated) + -ed:
➡️ A number of houses got built (by my family) in the early 2000's.
➡️ The plants got damaged (by the rain).
Normally, the reason for using the passive voice instead of the active voice is to change/shift the focus of the sentence to another aspect. In this way we can give focus to what we find more important.
It can also be used when the "doer" is unknown because it can be left out in the passive voice.
