Why is "Some books were bought by Joe yesterday" wrong in the passive voice?

I don’t see why it would be wrong.
A previous sentence could have been: “The police, investigating a burglary in the local book shop, found dozens of new books in Carol’s and Joe’s room.”

I do not think it is wrong. But I am just a gaijin, so what do I know?

I’m fairly certain that that is a correct way of using the passive voice. However, many people don’t like using the passive voice, and prefer to use active instead. I’m not a huge fan of using the passive voice myself.

As noted, the passive voice is simply not popular with many writers (and teachers of writing).

In your example, it’s my opinion (I’m not a fan of passive voice) that “Joe bought some books yesterday” is a stronger statement. It’s clear that Joe took action.

For me, the passive voice does a funny little trick of shifting the action away from the subject. Again, in your example, it’s as if those books cried out to Joe, urging him to buy them.

Just my opinion, of course.

There are some books, all bought by Joe, strewn about the floor. He bought them yesterday, i believe.

You’d have to set up the situation to make it correct usage.
“We had a book sale last Monday. Many students bought books, but there were still some left over. They held the sale over for the next few days. Many of them were purchased by Judy, Mary and Tom. Some books were bought by Joe yesterday. The last two were sent to Goodwill. The sale was a success.”
It doesn’t have to be passive voice, but it gives some variety to the structure of the sentences. I don’t agree with the idea that the passive voice shouldn’t be used, which is a relatively new “rule.”
Welcome to Fluther. If this was homework, I broke my rule against answering homework questions.

Your example is not wrong. It’s just in the passive voice. Totally agree with @picante and @Sunny2. Most teachers and writers would agree that the active voice, “Joe bought some books yesterday” is more dynamic, forthright, direct, straightforward. That’s why it’s called “active”.

On the other hand, the passive voice, “Some books were bought by Joe yesterday”, sounds weaker and more roundabout. That’s why it’s called “passive”. But in a context such as @Sunny2‘s example, it is entirely appropriate and may actually be better than the active voice.

Grammatically I don’t think there is anything wrong with sentence. I think it is properly constructed passive voice sentence, and I have absolutely nothing against the passive voice in general. Choosing when to use the passive voice is sometimes simply about the clarity of your writing and is often just a stylistic issue.

With the sentence in your question, unless there is some compelling reason to phrase it in the passive voice, personally, I wouldn’t do it. “Some books were bought by Joe yesterday” is kind of an awkward and clunky construction, I think.

I don’t know the context of your sentence. Was it done as an exercise in constructing sentences in the passive voice, or is it part of an essay you wrote, or something like that? I’m not sure what the issue is. If it’s from an essay, or something that you’ve written, is there any compelling reason to use the passive voice and not to just simply say “Joe bought some books yesterday.” or “Yesterday, Joe bought some books.”? Stylistically, using the active voice here just seems less awkward to me.

I think that the passive voice sounds too lengthy when you include the “by Joe”. If the person who bought the books could be inferred, then I would support the use of passive voice such as “Some books were bought yesterday.”