Active vs.

Passive Voice:
What's The Difference?

What to know

When a sentence is in the

active voice, the subject of
the sentence is the one
doing the action expressed
by the verb. In the passive
Mistakes were made.
voice, the subject is the
person or thing acted on or
affected by the verb's action.
The active voice asserts that the person or thing represented by the
The passive voice is typically
grammatical subject performs the action represented by the verb. formed with a form of the
The passive voice makes the subject the person or thing acted on or verb be—such as is, was, or
affected by the action represented by the verb. has been—and the past
participle of the verb, as in
"The ball was thrown by
Active voice: Jerry knocked over the lamp. Jerry." Although sometimes
criticized for being evasive,
Passive voice: The lamp was knocked over. by Jerry. the passive voice can be
useful when someone wants
to emphasize an action that
has taken place or when the
agent of an action is
unknown, as is often the
case in news coverage.
Both sentences describe the same action taking place—Jerry making contact with a lamp
and causing it to fall over—with the first sentence making Jerry the subject and the second
making the lamp the subject.
The passive voice is often distinguished by its use of a linking verb form (e.g., was, had
been) followed by another verb in its past participle form (e.g., "I have been given an
opportunity").

The usefulness of Passive Voice

Passive voice often gets criticized as a weak and evasive form of expression. But it is useful
for those instances when you want to emphasize the fact of an action having taken place
rather than who performed the action. It is also helpful for instances when the doer of an
action (also known as the agent) is unknown.
Active voice: The kids have cleaned the kitchen.
Passive voice: The kitchen has been cleaned.
Active voice: We found an old car in the woods.
Passive voice: An old car was found in the woods.

In the News
The differences between active and passive voice come up as a subject for discussion in
criticism of news coverage. When news media reports on incidents of crime, for example,
they will often use headlines that feature the passive voice: “Man (Is) Attacked on Elm
Street” instead of “Person Attacks Man on Elm Street.”
The passive voice allows for a shorter headline, but more pertinently, it puts up front
information that is known. In many cases, especially in stories involving crime, the fact of
the crime being committed, and whom it was committed against, is known before who
committed it becomes clear.
The reason for the passive is therefore practical: one might not know who carried out the
attack, only that someone did, and that the attacker might still be at large. Even once an
attacker has been identified, news writers might avoid the active voice for fear of stating
what that person is accused of as fact. (Hence, “Arrest Made in Elm Street Attack.”)
The passive voice gets called out on occasion as a tool for expressing the avoidance of
responsibility, like when one says “Mistakes were made” rather than “We made some
mistakes.” Sometimes, as in our Elm Street example, it is criticized for placing what
appears to be a burden of responsibility on the person who receives the action (i.e., the
victim) rather than the person who performs it.
 i.e. = id est = that is
e.g. = exempli gratia = for example

Confusing Active and Passive Voice

There are other instances that technically count as active voice but nonetheless use
language that dissociates the performer from the action being performed.
“The lamp fell over” is an active voice, but it feels like a passive statement because there is
no obvious causative agent like Jerry in “Jerry knocked over the lamp.”
This occurs in news writing as well. A sentence like “a rock shattered the store’s window”
is phrased in the active voice—the subject is rock, the verb is shatter, and the object
is window—though it might be derided as elusive because it avoids the question of who
was the agent who propelled the rock that broke the glass.
Forming Active and Passive voices
Active
SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
Doer of the action verb receiver of the action
The technician is fixing the PC

Passive
OBJECT PASSIVE VERB SUBJECT
Receiver of the action Be + past participle by + doer of the action
The PC is being fixed by the technician

Activities

1. Go through the sentences given below and identify the voice used.

1. Shreya Ghoshal sings beautiful songs. -Active

2. The Sun sets in the West. -Active
3. The boy was being beaten by his teacher. -Passive
4. Bucky is helped by Steve. -Passive
5. The carpenter is building the desk. -Active
6. The woodcutter cut down the tree. -Active
 7. The man dropped his axe into the river. -Active
8. The bird was shot by the naughty boy. -Passive
9. The bag was found by me. -Passive
10. Natasha lost the money. -Active
11. The farmer will plough the field. -Active
12. The work will be finished by the workers in a day. -Passive
13. The enemy has entered the war zone. -Active
14. Who sang the song? -Active
15. The children teased the animals. -Active

2. Change the following sentences from active voice to passive voice.

1. The dog chased the cat.

The cat was chased by the dog

2. The dog bit the boy.

The boy was bitten by the dog

3. The peon rang the bell.

The bell was rung by the peon

4. Ram played hockey.

Hockey was played by Ram

5. Miss Mary teaches us English.

English is taught to us by Miss Mary
6. Raj caught the ball.
The ball was caught by Raj

7. Children like sweets.

Sweets are liked by children

8. Rita will take a photograph.

A photograph will be taken by Rita

9. Who taught you this poem?

By whom were you taught this poem?

10. The police arrested the smuggler.

The smuggler was arrested by the police

11. Shiva was flying a kite.

A kite was being flown by Shiva

12. The hunter shot the deer.

The deer was shot by the hunter

13. The lion attacked the zebra.

The zebra was attacked by the lion

14. Virat threw the ball.

The ball was thrown by Virat

15. Everyone loves Zara.

 Zara is loved by everyone

16. My sister has drawn this portrait.

This portrait has been drawn by my sister

17. The people were helping the wounded woman.

The wounded woman was being helped by the people

18. Sam had taken the medicines.

The medicines had been taken by Sam

19. The player is taking extra time.

Extra time is being taken by the player.

20. The cat ate the fish.

The fish was eaten by the cat