Active Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.

Passive An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.

Passive Jorge was given an A

Active / Passive
Verb Tenses Active Passive

Simple Present Once a week, Tom cleans the house. Once a week, the house is cleaned by
Tom.

Present Continuous Right now, Sarah is writing the letter. Right now, the letter is being written by
Sarah.

Simple Past Sam repaired the car. The car was repaired by Sam.

Past Continuous The salesman was helping the The customer was being helped by the
customer when the thief came into the salesman when the thief came into the
store. store.

Present Perfect Many tourists have visited that castle. That castle has been visited by many
tourists.

Present Perfect Recently, John has been doing the Recently, the work has been being
Continuous work. done by John.

Past Perfect George had repaired many cars Many cars had been repaired by
before he received his mechanic's George before he received his
license. mechanic's license.

Past Perfect Continuous Chef Jones had been preparing the The restaurant's fantastic dinners had
restaurant's fantastic dinners for two been being prepared by Chef Jones for
years before he moved to Paris. two years before he moved to Paris.

Simple Future Someone will finish the work by 5:00 The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
WILL PM.

Simple Future Sally is going to make a beautiful A beautiful dinner is going to be made
BE GOING TO dinner tonight. by Sally tonight.

Future Continuous At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be
WILL washing the dishes. being washed by John.

Future Continuous At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going
BE GOING TO be washing the dishes. to be being washed by John.

Future Perfect They will have completed the project The project will have been completed
WILL before the deadline before the deadline.

Future Perfect They are going to have completed The project is going to have been
BE GOING TO the project before the deadline. completed before the deadline.

Future Perfect Continuous The famous artist will have been The mural will have been being
WILL painting the mural for over six months painted by the famous artist for over six
by the time it is finished. months by the time it is finished.

Future Perfect Continuous The famous artist is going to have The mural is going to have been being
BE GOING TO been painting the mural for over six painted by the famous artist for over six
months by the time it is finished. months by the time it is finished
Used to Jerry used to pay the bills. The bills used to be paid by Jerry.

Would Always My mother would always make the The pies would always be made by my
pies. mother.

Future in the Past I knew John would finish the work by I knew the work would be finished by
WOULD 5:00 PM. 5:00 PM.

Future in the Past I thought Sally was going to make a I thought a beautiful dinner was going
WAS GOING TO beautiful dinner tonight. to be made by Sally tonight.

Modal Verbs Rita can write a letter. A letter can be written by Rita.
Can (…)

So, when rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
 the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
 the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
 the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence
(or is dropped)

To change a passive voice sentence into an active voice sentence, simply reverse the
steps shown above.

1. Move the passive sentence's subject into the active sentence's direct object slot

Passive Voice Active Voice

The letter (subject) was mailed by …. (mailed) the letter (direct object)
Marilyn

2. Remove the auxiliary verb be from the main verb and change main verb's form if
needed

Passive Voice Active Voice

The letter was (be auxiliary) mailed by …. mailed the letter

Marilyn

3. Place the passive sentence's object of the preposition by into the subject slot.

Passive Voice Active Voice

… by Marilyn (object of the preposition by) Marilyn (subject) mailed…