Active and passive voice
Choose active or passive voice to direct attention to the doer or receiver of an action, and form passive sentences while keeping the tense and matching the verb to the subject
What a learner can do afterwards
- Convert active sentences to passive voice and explain the change in emphasis
- Identify passive constructions in news reports and scientific writing
- Choose between active and passive voice based on purpose and audience
1 · Read
Sentence choices can change what a reader notices. In an active action sentence, the subject does the action. In 'The chef cooked the meal,' the chef is the subject and does the cooking. The meal receives the action. Look at the subject and the whole verb when comparing active and passive voice.
In 'The meal was cooked by the chef,' the meal is the subject and receives the action. This is passive voice. A common passive verb uses a form of be plus a past participle: was cooked. Many participles end in -ed. By can introduce the doer. 'The meal was cooked' is also passive, but it does not name the doer.
Make the receiver the passive subject. Use be plus a past participle. Keep the time: simple past uses was or were; simple present uses am, is or are; future uses will be. Match the subject: I am; he, she or it is; you, we or they are. Compare 'The door was painted' and 'The doors were painted.' Add by and the doer to keep who acted. With shake, use shaken: 'The leaves are shaken by the breeze.'
To change passive to active, find the doer: 'The kite was flown by Dad.' Dad becomes the subject, and was flown becomes flew: 'Dad flew the kite.' Keep the same time and action. If the passive sentence does not name the doer, use known context or ask for that information. Do not invent who did it.
Choose active voice to make the doer the subject. Choose passive voice to focus on the receiver, or when the doer is unknown or not needed. 'We carried out the experiment' names the doer. 'The experiment was carried out' does not. Reports can use either voice. Passive wording does not by itself make a claim more accurate or objective.
Some past participles have special forms: draw uses drawn, shake uses shaken, fly uses flown, sing uses sung, eat uses eaten, win uses won, and make uses made. To form a past passive with one picture, use was drawn. Drew is the active past form; it does not fit after was in a passive verb.
Be alone does not show passive voice. 'The room was quiet' describes a state. 'The room was cleaned by Jo' describes an action received by the room. The subject also need not be the first words: in 'Yesterday, Jo cleaned the room,' Yesterday gives the time and Jo is the subject.
In active action sentences, the subject acts. In passive sentences, it receives the action. Keep tense and agreement when changing voice, and choose the focus your reader needs.
The lesson, questions and flashcards were written for this dataset, with original examples about active and passive voice, verb forms and sentence focus.
These four readings were written for this dataset with original examples about passive verbs and sentence focus. The flashcards explain the same grammar facts.
More to read
Keep the action and its time
'A volunteer washed the cups' makes the volunteer the active subject. 'The cups were washed by a volunteer' makes the cups the passive subject. The same person still does the washing.
Washed describes a past action. The plural cups take were washed. For one cup, use was washed.
Removing by a volunteer leaves a passive sentence, but it removes information about the doer. Keep that information when the reader needs it.
Find the subject and whole verb
'Before breakfast, Asha fed the rabbits' is active. Before breakfast gives the time. Asha is the subject doing the feeding.
'Before breakfast, the rabbits were fed by Asha' is passive. The rabbits receive the action of were fed. Asha remains the doer.
A form of be is only a clue. 'The rabbits were hungry' describes a state. It does not describe an action done to them. Check the whole verb and the subject's role.
Build the passive verb
A common passive verb uses a form of be and a past participle. Many participles end in -ed, as in was folded. Some have special forms, as in was drawn or was sung.
The form of be keeps the time and matches the subject. One sheet is folded; several sheets are folded. In the past, use was folded or were folded. For a future action, use will be folded.
Changing voice changes the subject's role, not when the action happens.
Choose the information your reader needs
A report about a class might say, 'The pupils planted the bulbs.' The active subject names who acted. A report about a flower bed might say, 'The bulbs were planted by the pupils.' This passive sentence makes the bulbs the subject while keeping the doer.
If nobody knows who moved a sign, 'The sign was moved' leaves the doer unnamed. Do not invent a person to make an active version.
Reports can use either voice. Accurate facts and evidence matter in both.
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
24 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.