Active and Passive Voice

 Active and Passive Voice:

Introduction 

When writing sentences, we often choose between two different structures: active voice and passive voice. Understanding these two can help us communicate more clearly and effectively. Let’s break them down into easy-to-understand steps.

I swim in the ocean. – 

I is the subject

swim is the verb

 ocean is the object.

My mom plays violin. – 

My mom is the subject, 

plays is the verb, 

violin is the object.

Defination 

Active voice: When a subject is directly acting on the object, the sentence is written in Active voice.

Passive voice: When the object is acted upon by the subject, the sentence is written in Passive voice.

In both the above sentences, the meaning remains the same and only the structure is what that changes. Usually, the structure or sequence of the subject, verb, and object expressed in the active voice sentence gets reversed in the passive voice of the same sentence. To understand the difference, just focus on how the subject and object change the structure of the sentences in the table below:

Active Voice Passive Voice

Active:-I ate an apple

Passive:-An apple was eaten by me

Now you must have gotten some idea of how the active and passive voice sentences look like.  From one voice to another voice is really simple when you know a few rules that we will chalk out for you here:

Structure of Active and Passive voice:

Active voice: Subject + Verb + Object

Passive voice: Object + Verb + Subject

How to Change from Active to Passive Voice

Changing a sentence from active to passive voice is simple once you know the basic rules

1. Switch the subject and object: The subject of the active sentence becomes the object in the passive sentence, and the object becomes the subject.

Active voice: She bought a new car. (She is the subject and a new car is an object.)

Passive voice: A new car was bought by her. (A new car is a subject and her is the object.)

2. Change the verb to its past participle form: In passive voice, the main verb is always in its third form (past participle).

First form  Second form   Third form

Buy                   Bought          Bought

Sing                   sang                sung

Grow.                grew               grown

Active voice: Bhaanu wrote a book on gun violence.

Passive voice: A book on gun violence was written by Bhaanu.

3. Use the word “by” before the subject in the passive sentence. For example:

Active voice: My brother sang a song.

Passive voice: A song was sung by my brother.

4. Use a form of "to be" (am,is,are, was, were,have,has,had) According to tenses.

Present tense–

Active voice: I drinks a water.

Passive voice: A water is drank by me.

Past tense–

Active voice: She walked my dog home.

Passive voice: My dog was walked home by her.

Future tense–

Active voice: Sheena will do the craft work.

Passive voice: Craft work will be done by Sheena.

5. Words like “with” or “to” are also used in passive voice. You may recall that we use “by” quite frequently in an active voice to passive voice conversion.

Active voice: I know her.

Passive voice: She is known to me.

Active voice: Love fills my heart.

Passive voice: My heart is filled with love.

6.Use a word "being" while converting continue tense sentence into passive.

Active voice: I am giving a pen.

Passive voice: A pen is being given by me.

7.Use a words "been" while converting perfect tense sentence into passive.

Active voice:I have helped his father 

Passive voice: His father have been helped by me.

8. Change pronouns as needed:Pronouns also change when converting from active to passive

I- me

We-use

He- him

She- her

They-them

Example of all tenses 

Conclusion

Understanding and using active and passive voice correctly is essential for clear communication. While active voice is more direct and preferred in most cases, passive voice can be useful when you want to emphasize the action or when the doer of the action is not important. By following the simple rules outlined above, you can easily switch between active and passive voice in your writing.

Thank you 😊