Active Voice and Passive Voice
I had a conversation with my children a couple of days ago
about some school events. It went something like this.
Me: How was school today?
Child 1: It was different from the usual school day. We
decorated the classroom for Teacher’s Day.
Child 2: A coach taught us football today. I scored a goal!
Me: What about work? Was any homework given to you by the
teacher?
Naturally, I let them go on about all the other non-work activities
in school before I got them to sit down and complete their homework.
My purpose in bringing up the dialogue I had with my
children, is to show that there were two types of sentences that were used in
the dialogue – the active voice and the passive voice.
The sentences in the
active voice are:
We decorated the
classroom for Teacher’s Day. A coach taught us football today. I scored a goal!
The sentence in the
active voice is:
Was any homework given
to you by the teacher?
Active Voice
|
Passive Voice
|
The subject is the doer of the action.
Jack throws the
ball.
|
The subject is the recipient of the action.
The ball is
thrown by Jack.
|
The recipient of the action is at the end of the sentence.
Jack throws the ball.
|
The doer of the action is at the end of the sentence and
it is introduced with the word ‘by’.
The ball is thrown by Jack.
Sometimes, the doer of the action is not written.
The ball is thrown.
|
When we change a sentence from the active to the passive voice,
we do not change the tense of the verb. However, we do have to change the way
in which the verb is written.
Tense
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object
|
|
Simple Present Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
bakes
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
is baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Simple Past Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
baked
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
was baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Present Perfect Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
has baked
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
has been baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Past Perfect Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
had baked
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
had been baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Present Continuous Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
is baking
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
is being baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Past Continuous Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
was baking
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
was being baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Future Tense
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
will bake
|
a cake.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
will be baked
|
by Sophie.
|
|
Sometimes, sentences have two objects.
Sophie bakes a cake for me.
Direct object: cake
Indirect object: me
Voice
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object 1
|
Object 2
|
Active Voice
|
Sophie
|
bakes
|
a cake
|
for me.
|
Passive Voice
|
A cake
|
is baked
|
for me
|
by Sophie.
|
Here are some tips on how to change a sentence from the
active voice to the passive voice.
1. Switch the
recipient of the action to the start of the sentence.
2. Switch the doer
of the action to the end of the sentence and add the word ‘by’ before the doer.
If a pronoun is used to describe the doer of the action, remember to change it.
Active voice: He washed the dishes.
Passive voice: The dishes were washed by him.
3. Change the
tense of the verb to the passive form.
Do take note of these points when changing a sentence from
an active voice to a passive voice.
1. The verb in the passive voice must match
the subject in the passive voice.
Active voice: Dan is feeding the cats.
Subject: Dan (singular), Verb: is
(singular)
Passive voice: The cats are being fed by Dan.
Subject:
The cats (plural), Verb: are (plural)
2. The verb ‘been’ is used for the present perfect
tense and the past perfect tense in the passive voice.
3. The verb ‘being’ is used for the present continuous
tense and the past continuous tense in the passive voice.
4. When there is an adverb in the passive
voice, it is usually placed before the participle.
Active voice: She fed the cake
lovingly.
Passive voice: The cat was
lovingly fed by her.
Let’s Practise.
Change the
sentences from the active voice to the passive voice.
1.
The waiter served us the food.
The food
_____________________________________________________
2.
Were they playing the trumpet?
Was
_________________________________________________________
3.
The veterinarian has checked the injured animals.
The injured
animals ____________________________________________
4.
Ann sent me an email.
An email
_____________________________________________________
5.
The boys accidentally broke the window with
their baseball.
The window
__________________________________________________
6.
Mary returned the wallet to its owner.
The wallet
___________________________________________________
7.
The traffic warden issued a parking ticket to
the driver who was parked illegally.
The driver who
_______________________________________________
8.
The famous chef will conduct cooking classes at
the community club.
Cooking
classes ______________________________________________
9.
The boys are building a tree house with their
father.
A tree house
________________________________________________
10. The journalist is interviewing victims of the earthquake.
Victims of
the earthquake _______________________________________
Answers:
1.
The food was served to us by the waiter.
2.
Was the trumpet being played by them.
3.
The injured animals have been checked by the veterinarian.
4.
An email was sent to me by Ann.
5.
The window was accidentally broken by the boys
with their baseball.
6.
The wallet was returned to its owner by Mary.
7.
The driver who was parked illegally was issued a
parking ticket by the traffic warden.
8.
Cooking classes at the community club will be
conducted by the famous chef.
9.
A tree house is being built by the boys with
their father.
10.
Victims of the earthquake are being interviewed by
the journalist.
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