Master active and passive voice and switch between them across all tenses.
Active voice and passive voice show who does the action in a sentence. In active voice, the subject does the action. • The teacher explains the lesson. Here, the teacher is the subject and does the action. In passive voice, the subject receives the action. • The lesson is explained by the teacher. Here, the lesson is the subject, but it does not do the action. It receives the action. A simple way to find the voice is to look for the subject, verb, and object. • In active voice, the pattern is usually subject + verb + object. • In passive voice, the pattern is usually subject + be + past participle + by + agent. Not every sentence needs both voices. Active voice is common, clear, and direct. Passive voice is useful when the action is more important than the person who does it, or when we do not know who does it. At this level, focus on asking these questions: • Who does the action? • Who or what receives the action? • Is the sentence active or passive?
• The dog chased the cat. (active) • The cat was chased by the dog. (passive) • Mia opened the door. (active) • The door was opened by Mia. (passive) • They wash the car. (active) • The car is washed by them. (passive)
Look for the doer of the action first. If the subject does the action, the sentence is active. If the subject receives the action, the sentence is passive.
To make a passive sentence, use be + past participle. The form of be changes with tense. • present: am, is, are • past: was, were • future: will be • modal: can be, should be, must be Then use the past participle of the main verb. • eat becomes eaten • write becomes written • make becomes made Active to passive usually changes the object into the new subject. • Active: The chef cooks the soup. • Passive: The soup is cooked by the chef. If the active sentence has no object, it cannot usually be changed into passive. • She sleeps. This has no object, so passive is not possible. Be careful with tense changes. • She writes a letter. -> A letter is written by her. • She wrote a letter. -> A letter was written by her. • She will write a letter. -> A letter will be written by her. The by phrase is optional when the agent is not important or not known.
• The window is cleaned by Sam. (present passive) • The cake was made by Ana. (past passive) • The letters will be sent tomorrow. (future passive) • The song is sung by the class. (be + past participle) • The door can be opened easily. (modal passive) • The report was written by the student. (object becomes subject)
Use the correct form of be for the tense. Then add the past participle. If you can find the object in the active sentence, it usually becomes the subject in the passive sentence.
Use active voice when you want a sentence to sound clear, direct, and simple. Use passive voice when the action is more important than the doer, or when the doer is unknown or not necessary. • Active: The nurse checked the patient. • Passive: The patient was checked by the nurse. In passive sentences, the agent is the doer after by. • by the teacher, by the police, by my friend You can leave out the agent if it is not needed. • The window was broken. Passive voice also works with modals. • can be repaired • must be finished • should be cleaned Questions can also be active or passive. • Did they build the house? (active question) • Was the house built by them? (passive question) Common errors include these: • wrong form of be: The cake is made by me yesterday. This is wrong because yesterday needs was. • wrong verb form: The letter was wrote. It should be written. • using passive without a real object: He ran by the park. This is not passive. At beginner level, always check tense, be form, and past participle before you choose passive voice.
• The room is painted. (agent omitted) • The room is painted by the workers. (agent included) • The homework must be finished tonight. (modal passive) • Was the email sent? (passive question) • Did Tom send the email? (active question) • The toys were broken. (past passive)
If the doer is not important, passive is a good choice. Always check the verb form after be. It should be a past participle, not a past tense verb.