Lesson 8
Passive in Simple Tenses
The Present Simple Passive
In most sentences, the subject carries out an action and the object receives it, or the result of it. In passive sentences, this is reversed: the subject receives the action.
Passive sentences take emphasis away from the agent (the person or thing doing the action), and put it on the action itself, or the person or thing receiving the action. In the present simple passive, the present simple verb becomes a past participle.
HOW TO FORM

SUBJECT | AM/IS/ARE | PAST PARTICIPLE | BY
Important stories | are | reported | by journalists.

The passive is used when the agent is obvious, unknown, or unimportant. It is also useful when describing a process where the result of the action is important.

Examples | Explanation
Criminals are arrested every day in this town. | The speaker doesn't mention the agent because the verb obviously refers to the police.
The city is not visited by many tourists. | Add not after am, is, are to form negative sentences.
Are criminals arrested every day in this town? | "Be" and the subject swap places to form questions.
The street cats are fed by the school children. | All passives use a form of "be" with a past participle. The agent (the thing doing the action) can be introduced with "by," but the sentence would still make sense without it.