What Is Active & Passive Voice?
Active and Passive Voice: Understanding the concept of active and passive voice is very much important for students of all grades at the school level as well as the competitive level. This forms the basis of the foundation of English grammar. So in this article, we discuss the concept of active and passive voice. So before directly jumping to know what is the active and passive voice, it is necessary to what is Voice.
What is Voice of Verb?
The voice of a verb is the verb that expresses whether the subject in the sentence has performed or received the action. For example, in the sentence
⦁ Ram helps Hari.
⦁ Hari is helped by Ram.
In the first sentence, the form of the verb shows that the subject does something, that is, the subject has performed or done something. So the verb helps is in said to be the active voice.
In the second sentence, the form of the verb shows that something is done to the subject or the subject has received something. So the verb helped is said to be the passive voice.
Types of Voice of Verb
There are two types of voice-
⦁ Active Voice
⦁ Passive Voice
| Types Of Voice of verbs | Types Of Voice of verbs |
|---|---|
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| Definition– “A verb is in active voice when its form shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject does something or in other words, is the doer of the action. Hence in an active voice, the subject is the doer.” | Definition– “A verb is said to be a passive voice when its form shows that something is done to the person or thing denoted by the subject. Hence in passive voice, the subject is a passive state, that is, suffers or receives some action.” |
| Examples: ⦁ Sita loves Savitri. ⦁ The mason is building the pillar. ⦁ The peon opened the gate. ⦁ Some girls were helping the wounded man | Examples: ⦁ Savitri is loved by Sita. ⦁ The wall is being built by the mason. ⦁ The gate was opened by the peon. ⦁ The wounded man was being helped by some boys. |
Active & Passive Voice Exaercises
Rules for Conversion of Active and Passive Voice
The rule for conversion from active voice to passive voice is as follows-
Rule1: First and foremost, identify the subject, verb, and object(S+ V+O) in the sentence to convert to passive voice.
Rule2: Then interchange the object and subject with each other, that is, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Rule3: Change the base verb in the active sentence into the past participle(third form of the verb) in a passive sentence.
Rule4: The word by will be used before the subject in passive voice.
Rule 5: The pronoun in the sentence will also be changed.
Active to Passive Voice Rules and Examples- Voice & Tense
• Simple present tense –
Active voice – subject + V¹ +object
Passive voice – object+am/ is/are + V³+by+ subject
Example –
Active-I watch television every night.
Passive-Television is watched by me every night.
Active- She plays hockey.
Passive- Hockey is played by her.
• Present continues tense –
Active voice – subject +am/is / are +V¹+ing +object
Passive voice – object+ am/ is/are +being + V³+by+ subject
Example –
Active- She is feeding the poor.
Passive- The poor are being fed by her.
• Present perfect tense-
Active voice – subject +has/have +V³ +object
Passive voice – object+has/have +been + V³+by+ subject
Example –
Active- Rishi has made the bed.
Passive- The bed has been made by Rishi
Active- She has performed her duty well
Passive- Her duty has been performed well by her
• Present perfect continuous tense-
Active voice – subject +has/have +V³ +object
Passive voice – object+has/have + V³+by+ subject
Example –
Active- Rishi has made the bed.
Passive- The bed has been made by Rishi
Active- She has performed her duty well
Passive- Her duty has been performed well by her
• Simple past tense
- Active voice – subject + v²+object
- Passive voice – object+ was/were + V³ +by+ subject
- Example –
- Active- He made a plan.
- Passive- A plan was made by him.
- Active- parul answered all the questions correctly.
- Passive- All the questions were correctly answered by Parul.
• past continuous tense
Active voice – subject + was/were+ v¹ +ing +object
Passive voice – object+ was/were + being+ V³ +b + subject
Example –
Active- She was looking into the matter.
Passive- The matter was being looked into by her.
• Past perfect tense –
Active voice – subject + had+ v³ +object
Passive voice – object+had + been+ V³ +by+ subject
Example –
Active- A pilot had predicted such an accident.
Passive- Such an accident had been predicted by a pilot.
• Simple Future tense-
Active voice- Subject + will/shall+ V(base form) + object
Passive voice- Object +will/shall+be +V³+ by +subject.
Example-
Active- Your boss will question you
Passive- You will be questioned by your boss.
• Future perfect tense –
Active voice – subject + will/shall+ have +V³+object
Passive voice- Object +will/subject +have +been +V³+by +subject
Active voice- The shopkeeper will have given some discount.
Passive voice – Some discount will have given by the shopkeeper.
Active voice- Millions of people will have lost their jobs due to corona .u
Passive voice – Jobs will have been lost by millions of people due to corona.
•Imperative sentence
Sentences that express orders, requests, commands, suggestions, etc, are known as imperative sentences. The passive form of imperative sentences starts with With or without an object.
Passive form (With object) – Let + object +be + past participle.
Passive form (Without object) – In case Sentences begins with ‘You are ordered/requested/ advised?……. etc. For example-
active – Take medicine on time.
Passive – You are advised to take medicine on time.
Active voice – Let me play here.
Passive voice- I may be allowed to play here.
•Interrogative sentence –
Sentences that ask questions are known as interrogative. In voice, Interrogative sentences can be two types – with wh family word or without wh family word. If “who” is present in an active voice, it should change to “By whom ” in passive form. In the case of without Wh word in active voice, the helping verb will come before an object as the sentence is interrogative. For example,
- Active – Who likes her?
- Passive – By whom is she liked?
- Active -Are you taking the exam?
- Passive – Is the exam being taken by you?…
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