Verb Voice and Mood

Changing voice changes the subject's role. In 'A volunteer repaired the bench', the volunteer is the active subject and does the repairing. In 'The bench was repaired by a volunteer', the bench is the passive subject and receives the action.

For this passive rewrite, make the original object the subject. Use was or were plus the past participle, retaining the past tense. One bench was repaired; several benches were repaired. The by-phrase identifies the doer.

To return to active voice, find the doer in that by-phrase. Make the doer the subject and use the matching active verb: 'A volunteer repaired the bench.' Check that the tense and the roles have stayed the same.

A sentence such as 'The bench was repaired' does not name the doer. An active rewrite naming a particular person would add information unless the surrounding text supplies it. Do not guess a name.

The presence of was is not enough to identify passive voice. In 'A volunteer was repairing the bench', the volunteer still performs the action, so the sentence is active.

Consider two accounts of the same event: 'The caretaker unlocked the gate' and 'The gate was unlocked by the caretaker.' The active version makes the caretaker the subject. The passive version makes the gate the subject. Both identify who acted.

Choose according to the question your reader needs answered. If the topic is the caretaker's work, the active version names that work directly. If the topic is access through the gate, the passive version keeps the gate in focus.

Leaving out 'by the caretaker' changes how much information the sentence gives. 'The gate was unlocked' reports the action without identifying the doer. That can help when the doer is unknown or irrelevant. It can also leave responsibility unclear when readers need to know who acted.

Reports and personal stories can use either voice. A scientific report may foreground a procedure with passive voice or name the researchers with active voice. Neither choice makes its claims accurate or objective by itself. Check evidence, describe what happened faithfully, and choose the subject that serves the passage.

A statement presents information: 'The rehearsal starts at four.' A question asks for information: 'Does the rehearsal start at four?' A command or request directs someone to act: 'Please arrive before four.'

This lesson uses indicative for ordinary statements and questions, and imperative for commands, directions and requests. Some school materials use the separate label interrogative mood for questions. When comparing materials, check which terminology they use.

Indicative form does not certify that a statement is true. A speaker can say 'The rehearsal starts at five' and be mistaken about the timetable. It is still an indicative statement.

In an imperative, the listener is usually the understood subject, you. 'Bring your folder' asks you to bring it, even though you is not written. 'Do not leave your folder behind' is a negative imperative. Both sentences direct the listener's actions.

Politeness and punctuation do not determine mood by themselves. 'Please bring your folder' is still imperative. It needs no exclamation mark. Read what the clause does and how its verb is formed.

'If the hall were larger, we would invite more guests' has two clauses. The first imagines a different hall using subjunctive were. The second gives the result using would invite. This lesson uses the school label conditional mood for that hypothetical would-result. Other grammars classify these forms differently.

Do not assign the result's label to every verb in the sentence. Were and would invite do different jobs. Also, if does not automatically mark a subjunctive form. In 'If the hall opens, we will meet there', opens gives an ordinary indicative condition.

Subjunctive forms also express requirements. 'The organiser requests that every guest arrive early' uses base-form arrive with every guest. An ordinary statement would use arrives. With be, a requirement can read 'It is vital that every guest be informed.'

A requirement does not establish whether the requested action happens. The organiser may request early arrival even if guests already arrive early.

A wish can imagine a different present situation: 'I wish the hall were larger.' Formal English uses were for this imagined situation, including with singular subjects.

A voice rewrite needs more than a change of word order. Compare 'The assistants packed the boxes' with 'The boxes were packed by the assistants.' The same people act on the same boxes, and both versions describe the past.

Now compare 'The boxes are packed by the assistants.' This passive version changes the tense. Compare 'The assistants were packed by the boxes.' This version keeps a past passive form but reverses the roles and changes the meaning.

Before accepting a rewrite, identify the original doer and object. Check who becomes the new subject, which form of be agrees with it, and whether the verb preserves the original time. Irregular participles need care: 'A visitor took the leaflet' becomes 'The leaflet was taken by a visitor.'

If you omit the by-phrase, acknowledge the lost information about the doer. 'The leaflet was taken' leaves the visitor unidentified.

Voice and mood need separate checks. 'The leaflet was taken' presents an indicative statement. 'It is necessary that the leaflet be taken' expresses a subjunctive requirement while also using passive voice.