Active and Passive Voice

Defining “Voice”

• “Voice” is a characteristic of verbs which indicates the relation of the verb’s action to its subject.

• The voice of a verb may be either “active” or “passive.”

Active VoiceActive voice verb is

when the subject performs the action of the verb.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Pattern:

Examples:

John washes the dishes.

Martha brings a basket.

subject doing the action

verbobject receiving action/direct object

object receiving action/direct object

verbsubject doing the action

Passive Voice Passive voice verb is when the thing receiving the action is now the subject, and the former subject now receives the action of the verb.Pattern:

[subject] + [be verb] + [past participle form of the verb] + [by] + [thing receiving the action]

Examples:

The dishes are washed by John.

John washes the dishes.

subject passive verb prep. thing doing action

subject doing the action

verb object receiving action/direct object

Examples:

A basket is brought by Martha.subject passive verb prep thing doing action

Martha brings a basket.subject doing the action

object receiving action/direct object

verb

Examples:

Arthur carried the box.

The box was carried by Arthur.subject

verb object receiving action/direct object

subject doing the action

passive verb prep thing doing action

To change a sentence from active to passive voice:

1. Move the active sentence’s direct object into the sentence’s slot

2. Place the active sentence’s subject into the direct object’s slot preceded by the preposition “by”

3. The former verb also changes in form. It consists of be verbs in different forms plus past participle form of the verb.

Example:

Tom cleans the house.

To change a passive voice into an active voice:

1. Move the passive voice sentence’s subject into the active sentence’s direct object slot

2. Remove the be verb from the main verb and change the main verb’s form if needed

3. Place the passive sentence’s object of the preposition by into the subject slot.

Examples:

The ballots are counted by the chairman.

*The chairman counts the ballots.

John painted my bicycle.

* My bicycle was painted by John.

Colorful parrots live in the rainforests.

Review• Active voice verbs: Verbs that

indicate the sentence’s subject as actively acting:– Marvin hit the ball.

• Passive voice verbs: Verbs that indicated the sentence’s subject as being acted upon:– The ball was hit by Marvin

Directions:

Transform the following sentences into their opposite voices. If the sentence cannot be transformed, just copy it.

Set A

1. Rolly sings a song at the party.

2. Julia invited the class.

3. The cats lie in the shade under our cars.

4. The lawyer revealed the evidence.

5. Mila watered the plants.

Set B

1. A beautiful dinner was made by Sally.

2. Five hamburgers are eaten by the man.

3. The castle was visited by tourists.

4. The design was finished by Dina.

5. The house is repaired by Lou.

Thank You Very Much