21 Active and Passive Voice

Active and Passive Voice

When the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action,
the verb is said to be in the active voice.
Anita drew a picture.
The shopkeeper gave many gifts to his customers.
receiver of the action, the verb is said
When the subject of the sentence is the
to be in the passive voice.
The picture was drawn by Anita.
customers were given many gifts by the shopkeeper.
The
voice (A) or passive voice (P).
sentences are in the active
Write whether these ****..

elected the school captain by the students.

1. Nikhilwas
welcome.
guests were given a warm
2. The
singing the national anthem.
3. Anisha is
cricket kit on my birthday.
gifted me a
4. My father the tsunami.
destroyed by
was
5. The town
Theypunished therobber.
6. sarees.
beautiful
7. Meera
sells
millions ofviewers on TV.
watched by
8. The match was

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 the receiver of the actions
Circle the doer ofthe actions and
underline
in these sentences.

1. (Heenais waiting for me at the gate.

2. Rahi sent flowers to her sick aunt.
3. Heidi was written by Johanna Spyri.
English test.
4. Rohii accused Shama of cheating inthe
5. Iwas received at the station by my uncle.
6. Sam gave me a music CD today.
alone at night.
7. We were scolded by the guide for going out
8. The culprit was nabbed by the police yesterday.

Uses of the Passive Voice

We use the passive voice-
doer of the action.
1. when the focus is on the action rather than the
" The video was recorded by Amrita.
2. when the doer of the action is unimportant or unknown.
All the letters were despatched yesterday.
3. to describe changes that have happened over a period of time.
The school has been renovated.
4. in newspaper stories, headlines and formal notices.
Roman artefacts (have been) found by archaeologists.
Littering is prohibited.
5. in scientific or technical writings, in which the process that is being
described is more important.
Many samples were studied by scientists.

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 Complete the second
sentence in each pair in the passive voice.
.Anirudh made a beautiful model of this city.
Abeautiful model of this city was made by Anirudh
***********.*****....
2. The news surprised us.

.by the news.

3, He handed me the books.
The books

4, The earthquake destroyed many buildings.

Many buildings
5. India beat Sri Lanka in the match last night.
Sri Lanka

6. We ordered this cake from the new bakery down the street.
This cake

7. Arun gifted a watch to his younger brother.

His younger brother
8. Sheila left the door open.
The door

Changing from Active Voice to Passive Voice

voice,
When we change a sentence from the active voice to the passive
we must keep these points in mind.
The subject of the sentence becomes the object, and the object moves
1. by to indicate who or what
to the subject position. We also use the word
causes the action.

Anirudh collected the money. (active voice)

money was collected by Anirudh.(passive voice)
The
 it changes to
u nere is a subject pronoun in the sentence, then
an object pronoun.
Iwrote a poem. (active voice)
The poem was written by me. (passive voice)
He baked a cake. (active voice)
The cake was baked by him. (passive voice)
3. The main verb in the sentence is changed to its passive form
(form of verb be +past participle).
He bought the sofa. (active voice)
The sofa was bought by him. (passive voice)
4. When a sentence has two objects--direct and indirect-it can be changed
in two ways.
t-shirt. (active voice)
My brother gave me a ....******
At-shirt was given to me by my brother. (passive voice)
I was given a t-shirt by my brother. (passive voice)
5. When there is a modal verb in a sentence in the active voice, we change it
into the passive using the form-modal verb + be+ past participle form of
the verb.
They can carry the boxes. (active voice)
The boxes can be carried by them. (pasive voice)
6. Touse an imperative in the passive voice, we use the structure
havelget something done.
. Fix the lights today. (active voice)
" Get the lights fixedtoday. (passive voice)
Repairthe puncture as soon as possible. (active voice)
Have the puncture repaired as soon as possible. (passive voice)

D Change these sentences from the active voice to the passive voice.
1. He wrote the book in one month.
The book was written by him in one month.

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 Rahul made a paper boat.

3. My grandtather built this school

, Davidonated some books to the library.

5. Everyone admires the soldiers.

6. The chief guest delivered an inspiring speech.

7. They have closed the Birla Planetarium for renovation.

8. Dhira will feed the cows.

Passive Voice to Active Voice

Changing from
object of the sentence becomes the subject, and the subject takes
1. The
the object position.
article was written by Parul. (passive voice)
This
(active voice)
Parul wrote this article.
must be changed from the passive form to
main verb
2. The form of the
the active.
by her. (passive voice)
The clock was repaired
repaired the clock. (active voice)
She in thepassive voice, we can add
doer of the action is not mentioned
J. Ifthe
active voice.
Our own in the
(passive voice)
The case was closed.
closed the case.(active voice)
The police
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 voice.
Change these sentences from the passive voice to the active
1. The ball was caught by Tim.
Tim caught the ball.

2. I was asked by the secretary to meet the principal.

3. She was handed the papers by the clerk.

4. Richa was praised by the teacher.

5. The painting, Three Sisters, was painted by Jamini Roy.

6. My purse was stolen in the train.

Somebody
7. He was welcomed by the people.

8. My water bottle has been lost.

Complete this passage using the passive forms of the verbs in brackets.
Down through the ages, a great deal of interest has been shown (show) in
************ ***********.****s*.*

asteroids by astronomers all over the world. It (realise) that the

asteroids that are relatively closer to Earth could be dangerous to us. In 1908, a part
of Siberia (hit) by an object that was only a few centimetres wide
As a result of this, trees for hundreds of kilometres .(destroy)
completely. In fact, the noise (hear) many kilometres away.
Naturally, the search for asteroids near the Earth has become very important. The
idea is that if a harmful asteroid .(discover),we could perhaps
blast it or change its path, in order to avoid a collision.
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DIY Exercise
Write newspaper headlines for these incidents.
, a terrible accident on the
National Highway
India launching its own navigation satellite
successfully
3. a noted writer winning a prestigious award

Write formal notices-

1. to keep trespassers away.

2. to dissuade tourists from taking photographs.

3. to keep people from walking on the grass.

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