Active voice

and
Passive Voice
 What is Active Voice?
 In the Active voice, the subject performs the action.
 We say what the subject does.
 Joseph draws a picture.
 Joseph is the subject and he is doing something
(drawing).
 My father built this house in 1962.
 My father is the subject and he did something (built)
What is passive voice?

 We say what happens to the subject.

 Who or what causes the action is unknown or
unimportant

 The picture was drawn (by Joseph)

 In this case, the picture is the subject and it is being

done by Joseph.
 Passive voice: use
 Use passive voice when you do not wish to emphasize the
subject of the sentence.
Example:
 The manager prohibits smoking. (active)
 Smoking is prohibited. (passive)

The passive sentence takes attention away from

manager, so they do not have to be in the role of
the “bad guys.”
 Passive Voice: use

 Also use passive voice when you wish to emphasize

what happened and the person or thing acting is
unknown or unimportant.
Example
 Poisonous gases were found in six factories.

The use of passive emphasizes the

finding of gases, not who found them.
Passive Voice: use

 If you want to say who or what causes

the action, you have to add “by …..” at the
end of the sentence. This is called the
“agent”.
 This house was built by my father.
 Two hundred pople are employed by the
company.
The Active and the Passive

 The mouse ate cheese. (active)

 Cheese was eaten by the mouse. (passive)

Look: subject object
 Active: The mouse eats cheese.

 Passive: Cheese is eaten by the mouse.

subject by + object

subject
The __________ in an active sentence becomes
the __________
object in a passive sentence, and
viceversa.
Passive Voice: form
 In general, the Passive voice is formed
by:

subject + TO BE + Past Participle + agent

The book was read by the students

The windows are opened by the maid everyday.

everyday
 Passive Voice: Tenses
 Verb TO BE gives you the tense of the Passive voice
Tense ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE

SIMPLE PRESENT Farmers grow corn Corn is grown by farmers

SIMPLE PAST The news surprised Sarah Sarah was surprised by the
news
PRESENT PERFECT Jack has sent the letter The letter has been sent by
Jack
Mr Lee will plan the meeting. The meeting will be planned
FUTURE by Mr. Lee.
Sue is going to write the report. The report is going to be
written by Sue.
Change these sentences from Passive to
Active voice:
1. Houses were destroyed by the storm.
The storm destroyed the houses.
2. The cake was eaten by me.
I ate the cake.
3. Inexpensive ways for people to have fun are provided by parks.
Parks provide inexpensive ways for people to have fun.
4. A kitten was chosen by the family as a pet.
The family chose a kitten as a pet.
5. Oxygen was discovered in 1774 by Joseph Priestley.
Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774.