Active Passive voice

The voice of a verb indicates whether the subject of the sentence performs the action or receives the action. There are two main voices in English: active and passive.

📙 ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

What is Voice of a verb❔

The voice of a verb expresses whether the subject in the sentence has performed or received the action.

For example:

• The watchman opens the door.
• The door is opened by the watchman.

Active Voice

In the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. The structure of an active voice sentence is typically:  

ℹ️ Subject + Verb + Object  

Here are some examples

• The dog (subject) chased (verb) the ball (object).
• She (subject) wrote (verb) a letter (object).
• The wind (subject) blew (verb) the leaves (object).

Passive Voice

When the action expressed by the verb is received by the subject, it is passive voice. Passive voice is used when the doer of the action is not known and the focus of the sentence is on the action and not the subject.

For example

• Eggs are laid by hens.
• Nests are built by birds.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Conversion of Sentence

Below are the active-passive voice rules to follow for changing an active sentence into a passive voice. Before heading to the rules of active-passive voice, let’s check the examples of active and passive voice sentences.

Conversion of Active and Passive voice examples 👀

• Active voice - Rita wrote a letter. (Subject + Verb + Object)
• Passive voice - A letter was written by Rita. (Object) + (auxiliary verb) + (past participle) + (by subject).
• Active voice - She cooks food. (Subject + Verb + Object)
• Passive voice - The food is cooked by her. (Object) + (auxiliary verb) + (past participle) + (by subject)

#️⃣ Rule #1

➡️ Identify the (S+V+O) Subject, Verb and object in the active sentence to convert to passive voice.

Example: He drives car. (Subject – He, verb – Drives, object – Car)

#️⃣ Rule #2

➡️ Interchange the object and subject with each other, i.e., object of the active sentence become the subject of the passive sentence.

Example

Active voice - She knits sweater. (Subject – She, Verb – Knits, Object – Sweater). Passive voice - The sweater is knitted by her. (Object sweater is interchanged with the subject She).

#️⃣ Rule #3

➡️ In passive voice sometimes the subject is not used, i.e., the subject in passive voice can be omitted if the sentence without it gives enough meaning.

Example: Milk is sold in litres

#️⃣ Rule #4

➡️ Change the base verb in the active sentence into the past participle i.e., third form verb in a passive sentence i.e., preceded by (By, With, to, etc). Base verbs are never used in passive voice sentences.

Examples

• Active voice - She prepares dinner.
• Passive voice - The dinner is prepared by her.
• Active voice - She knows him.
• Passive voice - He is known to her
• Active voice - Juice fills the jar.
• Passive voice - The jar is filled with juice.

#️⃣ Rule #5

➡️ While conversion of Active voice sentence to Passive voice sentence, the pronoun used in the sentence also changes in the following manner.

#️⃣ Rule #6

➡️ Use the suitable helping or auxiliary verb (is/am/are/was, etc.). The rules for using auxiliary verbs in passive voice sentences are different for each tense.

For example

• The letter is written by her.
• A book was not bought by her
• Chocolates are being eaten by them.

Forms of Active and Passive Voice for All Tenses

Simple Present Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Simple Past Tense

Past Continous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Simple Future Tense

Future Perfect Tense

Practice Questions 🧠

Directions: 💡 In the following questions, a sentence has been given in either Active or Passive Voice.From the four options select the one which best expresses the same sentence in the opposite voice than mentioned in the question.

1. Never disobey your elders. ❓

   1. You are asked not to disobey your elders.
   2. You are ordered not to disobey your elders.
   3. Do not disobey your elders.
   4. You are not to disobey your elders.

Answer: ✅ 1. You are asked not to disobey your elders.

2. The students were listening to the teacher ❓

   1. The teacher is listened to by the students
   2. The teacher listened to students.
   3. The teacher was listening to by the students
   4. The teacher was listened to by the students.

Answer: ✅ 4. The teacher was listened to by the students.

3. I have to do it. ❓

1. It is be done by me
2. It should to be done by me
3. It has to be done by me.
4. It would to be done by me.

Answer: ✅ 3. It has to be done by me.

4. Tell the maid to prepare tea. ❓

   1. You are ordered to tell the maid to prepare tea.
   2. You are said to tell the maid to prepare tea.
   3. You are advised to tell the maid to prepare tea.
   4. You are asked to tell the maid to prepare tea.

Answer: ✅ 4. You are asked to tell the maid to prepare tea.

5. Who stole your bike ❓

   1. Your bike was stolen by him?
   2. By whom was your bike stolen?
   3. Your bike was stolen by whom?
   4. By whom your bike stolen?

Answer: ✅ 2. By whom was your bike stolen?