Last Updated on November 21, 2020 by Skillslelo
In English grammar, Voice is a grammatical feature that describes the relationship between the verb and the subject (also known as the agent) in a sentence. There are two main types of voice in English grammar: active voice and passive voice.
What is Active Voice?
When the subject of a sentence is the doer of the verb, the verb is said to be in Active Voice. Active voice is more common in speaking and writing. For example;
She writes a letter.
I am reading a book.
In the active voice, the subject of a sentence is the doer of that sentence.
In the first sentence, the subject (she) is the doer of the verb (writes).
And in the second sentence, the subject (I) is the doer of the verb (reading).
What is Passive Voice?
When the effect of the action is received by the subject, the verb is said to be in Passive Voice.
In simple words, When the object of a sentence is the subject of the verb, the verb is said to be in the passive voice.
A letter is written by her.
A book is being read by me.
In the passive voice, the sentence does not start with the doer. The first sentence starts with the object ‘A letter‘. The second sentence starts with the object ‘A book‘.
Subject & Object
Somebody who does work is a Subject in a sentence. For example;
Sara is cooking dinner.
Here Sara is Subject because she is doing some work.
Over which the work is done is called an Object. In the example of Sara, ‘Dinner‘ is Object because the work is done over ‘Dinner‘
How to find Object?
An object receives effect and it is often found after the Main Verb.
She killed a mouse in the kitchen.
Here ‘killed‘ is the Main Verb and ‘a mouse‘ is an object that receives the effect of the verb.
Transitive & Intransitive Verb
A verb tells about the action or state of Subject or Agent (Object)
She is a teacher. [State]
I have done my homework. [Action]
For the purpose of voice, we divide verbs into two categories:
- Transitive Verb
- Intransitive Verb
Transitive Verb: It is a verb that transits its action to the Object or affects the Object.
He broke all the plates.
I help my friends.
In the first sentence, ‘broke‘ is a Transitive Verb, and Object ‘all the plates‘ is affected by the verb. In the second sentence, ‘help‘ is a Transitive Verb, and Object ‘my friends‘ is affected by the verb.
NOTE: We can change only the sentence with Transitive Verb into Passive Voice
Intransitive Verb: It is a verb that does not transit its action so Object is not used with it.
She is coming from home.
I went to Australia.
Here ‘coming‘ and ‘went‘ are Intransitive Verbs
NOTE: We can not change the sentence with intransitive Verb into Passive Voice
How To Change Voice Grammar Rules
(Active Voice into Passive Voice)
There are three rules in English grammar that are applied in all the sentences to change the active voice into the passive voice.
- Subject and Object will be replaced by each other
- In Passive Voice Verb 3rd form ( Past Participle) is always used.
- By is used in passive Voice.
In order to change voice we divide sentences into two categories;
- Sentence having One Verb [Main verb]
For example: She helped me. - Sentence having Two Verbs [Helping & Main Verb]
For example: I have done a mistake.
Sentence having One Verb
[Main verb]
Rule:1 Passive Voice In the simple present tense
To change a sentence from active to passive in the simple present tense,
Is/Am/Are is added with 3rd form (Past Participle) of the Main Verb.
[Object + Is/Am/Are + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
See Examples
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| He plays football. | Football is played by him. |
| She beats me. | I am beaten by her. |
| My uncle manages a restaurant. | A restaurant is managed by my uncle. |
| Sara sells sewing machines. | Sewing machines are sold by Sara. |
| The boys play chess at night. | Chess is played by the boys at night. |
| She reads the English newspaper. | The English newspaper is read by her. |
Rule:2 Passive Voice In the simple past tense
To change a sentence from active to passive in the simple past tense,
Was/ Were is added with 3rd form (Past Participle) of the Main Verb.
[Object + Was/Were + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
See Examples
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| You saw the fox in the woods. | The fox was seen by you in the woods. |
| The government increased the minimum wage last year. | The minimum wage was increased by the government last year. |
| He described the accident in detail. | The accident was described by him in detail. |
| Adam did a mistake in his life. | A mistake was done by Adam in his life. |
| You created a problem for yourself. | A problem was created by you for yourself. |
| She completed her work in time. | Her work was completed by her in time. |
Sentence having Two Verbs
[Helping & Main Verb]
When ‘Helping and Main Verb‘ both are used in the sentence, Be/Being/Been is used before the 3rd form Verb (Past Participle)
Rule:3 Passive Voice In the present continuous tense
To change a sentence from active to passive in the present continuous tense,
Use a form of be, the present participle being, and the past participle of the main verb.
[Object + Is/Am/Are + being + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
See Examples
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| She is opposing him without any reason. | He was being opposed by her without any reason. |
| Adam is detecting an error in the system. | An error is being detected by Adam in the system. |
Rule:4 Passive Voice in the Present Perfect Tense
To change active to passive in the present perfect tense,
Use have or has, the past participle of be (been), and past participle of the main verb.
[Object + Has/Have + Been + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| She has lost her purse in the classroom. | Her purse has been lost by her in the classroom. |
| I have helped you. | You have been helped by me. |
| She has written a story. | A story has been written by her. |
Rule: 5 Passive Voice in the Past Continuous Tense
To change active to passive in the past continuous tense,
Use a form of be, the present participle being and the past participle of the main verb.
[Object + Was/Were + Being + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| David was explaining the fact. | The fact was being explained by David. |
| Sara was collecting money from the bank. | Money was being collected by Sara from the bank. |
| He was watching a movie. | A movie was being watched by him. |
Rule: 6 Passive Voice in the Past Perfect Tense
To change active to passive in the past perfect tense,
Use had, the past participle of be (been), and past participle of the main verb.
[Object + Had + Been + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| Your son had snatched my pen. | My pen had been snatched by your son. |
| She had lost her purse. | Her purse had been lost by her. |
Rule: 7 Passive Voice in the Simple Future Tense
[Object + Shall/Will + Be + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| Andy will kill a tiger in the forest. | A tiger will be killed by Andy in the forest. |
| She will guide me. | I shall be guided by her. |
| Sara will build a house of cards tonight. | A house of cards will be built by Sara tonight. |
Rule: 8 Passive Voice in the Future Perfect Tense
[Object + Shall/Will + Have + Been + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
You will have helped my mother. [Active]
My mother will have been helped by you. [Passive]
A thief will have snatched her ornaments. [Active]
Her ornaments will have been snatched by a thief. [Passive]
Rule: 9 Passive Voice in the Simple Present Tense with Modals
[Object + Can/Could/Should etc + Be + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)+ by + Subject]
The students must obey you. [Active]
You must be obeyed by the students. [Passive]
Your staff should follow all the rules. [Active]
All the rules should be followed by your staff. [Passive]
|Note|
NO PASSIVE VOICE
Future Continuous Tense and All Perfect Continuous Tenses
Voice Grammar Rules
(Order and Request Sentences)
[Let + Object + Be + Verb 3rd form (Past Participle)]
Bring a pencil for drawing. [Active]
Let a pencil be brought for drawing. [Passive]
Complete your work in time. [Active]
Let your work be completed in time. [Passive]
Catch the fish. [Active]
Let the fish be caught. [Passive]
Important Points about Active and Passive
1⃣ We can not use ‘by‘ with the words given below when you change from Active to Passive. We should use ‘with‘ instead of ‘by‘;
Pleased, Satisfied, Disgusted, Charmed, etc + With
I pleased him. [Active]
He was pleased with me. [Passive]
2⃣ Many verbs such as show, give, send, lend, promise, tell can be followed by two objects, an ‘indirect object’ and a ‘direct object’.
These usually refers to a person (indirect object) and thing (direct object). In this case, two structures are possible.
- Verb + indirect object + direct object
He gave his sister the car. - Verb + direct object + preposition + indirect object
He gave the car to his sister.
Both of these structures can be made passive.
- If indirect object becomes the subject of passive verb;
His sister was given the car. - If direct object becomes the subject of passive verb;
The car was given to his sister.
Voice Grammar Rules
(When to use the passive voice?)
In general, use the active voice whenever possible because it is more direct and forceful. Using the active voice makes your writing crisp and powerful.
The passive voice is very often found in business writing and speech. This helps the writer or speaker avoid finger-pointing. The passive voice can be perfectly acceptable in the following cases:
When the receiver of the action is important
The passive voice may be used to emphasize the importance of the receiver of the action. (In contrast, the active voice typically emphasizes the importance of the doer.)
The doer is unknown:
The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age. [We don’t know who made them.]
The doer is irrelevant:
An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert. [We are not interested in who is building it.]
You want to be vague about who is responsible:
Mistakes were made.
You are talking about a general truth:
Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]
Avoid Errors in Active and Passive
- We use the active voice if we want to give importance to the subject of the sentence.
- We use the passive voice if we want to give importance to the action.
- Intransitive verbs don’t have objects, so they cannot be used in the passive voice.
❎ The meeting was taken place. (Passive Voice)
✅ The meeting took place yesterday. (Active Voice) - If a verb has a direct object and indirect object, either one can become the subject of the passive voice sentence.
We gave the retirees gold watches. (Active Voice)
✅ Gold watches were given to the retirees by us. (Passive Voice)
✅ The retirees were given gold watches by us. (Passive Voice) - When an object pronoun of an active voice sentence becomes the subject of a passive voice sentence, change the object pronoun to a subject pronoun.
She helped me.
❎ Me was helped.
✅ I was helped.
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