Active &

Passive
Voice
 What are Active & Passive Voice?
Voice: It is the form a verb takes
to indicate whether the subject of
verb performs or receives the
action.

Active Voice: When the subject of

the verb performs the action the
verb is said to be in active voice.

Passive Voice: When the subject

of the verb receives the action
named in the verb,the verb is in
passive voice.
Active and Passive voice

Active Passive
(What subject (The focus is on the action)
does)
 Rules for changing active to the passive voice(General)

⚫ The place of subject & object are interchanged

i.e.

⚫ 3rd form of verb (past participle)is always used as main verbs in sentences
of
passive voice for all tenses.
 Change of Personal Pronouns in
Passive Construction:

The subjective case pronoun changes into the objective case pronoun in the passive voice.

For eg: I helped my friends.

My friends were helped by me.

She encouraged her friends.

Her friends were encouraged by her.
 Rules for changing simple tenses into passive
voice ACTIVE Root form of the verb,sometimes
VOICE with -s or -es

(uplifts, teaches,keeps)
PASSIVE is/are/am + V3 (past participle
VOICE form of verb)

(am uplifted, is taught,are kept)

Simple Present Tense - When the active verb is in the simple present tense,we can
make passive voice with is/am/are +V3 form of verb (Note: The object of the active
verb becomes the subject of the passive verb & vice versa.)
Examples of Passive form in
Simple Present Tense
 Rules for changing simple past tense into
passive voice
Active voice Past tense of the verb (gave,did,impress)
Passive voice was/were + V3 form of the verb(was/were
given,were impressed

Simple Past Tense: The passive voice can be made with was/were + V3 form of the verb
Rules for changing the simple future tense into
passive voice
Active voice shall/will + root form of verb(will
accomodate,will inaugurate)
Passive voice Shall be/ will be + V3 form of the verb(will
be given,will be impressed

The passive voice is made using shall be/ will be + V3 form of the verb.Some
examples are given below:
 Change of Continuous form of verbs from active to
passive voice
Active voice Is /am/are + ing form of the verb(are
giving,is defending)
Passive voice Is/ am/are +being + V3(are being given,are
being neglected)

The passive voice in present continuous form of the verb is made by adding ‘being’ to the
Auxilliary is/am/are followed by the past participle form of the verb
 Rules for converting Past Continuous form of
verb into passive voice
ACTIVE VOICE was/were + ing form of the verb (was
laughing)
PASSIVE VOICE was/were + being + V3 form of the verb
(was being laughed)

The passive voice is formed by adding ‘being’ to the auxiliary verb followed by the
V3 form of the verb
Rules for changing the Future continuous form of
verb into passive form

Verb in the future continuous tense cannot be expressed in the passive

voice
 Active-Passive (Perfect Tense)

In Present Perfect Tense:

Active Voice has/have +past participle form of verb (V3)

For eg: has designed, has knocked
Passive Voice has/have + been +past participle form of verb (V3)
For eg: has been helped, have been knocked
When the active voice is in the present perfect tense we can change the sentence
Into passive voice by adding ‘been’ to the auxiliary verb (has/have) of the perfect tense.
 In Past Perfect Tense (Passive Form)

Active Voice had +past participle form of verb (V3)

For eg: had designed, had knocked
Passive Voice Had + been +past participle form of verb (V3)
For eg: had been helped, had been knocked
When the sentence is in the past perfect tense we can add ‘been’ to the auxiliary verb
(had) of the past perfect tense to make it into passive form:
 Passive Voice in Future Perfect Tense

Active Voice shall/will +have +past participle form of verb (V3)

For eg: will have designed, will have knocked
Passive Voice shall/will +have been +past participle form of verb (V3)
For eg: will have been helped, will have been
knocked
When a sentence is changed into the passive form of the future perfect tense ‘been’ is
added to the auxiliary verb (will/shall have) of the perfect tense.
 The following sentences cannot be changed into
the passive form

1) Sentences which are in Present Perfect Continuous


2) Sentences which are in Past Perfect Continuous

3) Sentences which are in Future Perfect Continuous
 4) Sentences which are in Future Continuous

 5)Sentences having intransitive verbs for eg. He laughs.(laugh is an intransitive verb. It

does not require an object in a sentence and can express the complete idea. ‘GO’,
‘SLEEP’, ‘SIT’, ‘REACH’, ‘ DIE’ are few eg. of the intransitive verbs.