Active & Passive Voice

Sentence Structure (SVO)

The police arrested the robbers.

(subject) (verb) (object)

*A verb is often an action. The performer of that action is called the subject,
and the one on whom that action is performed is called the object.
When to use what & why ?

The active voice is used when:

•The sentences need to be kept short and simple.

•The focus is on the subject.

 Active Voice

Millions of viewers watched the World Cup.

(Subject) (verb) (object)

 The passive voice is used when :

•The subject is unknown or irrelevant.

•The subject is obvious.

•The focus is on the verb or object rather than the subject.

Changing Active to Passive Voice

• The object of the active voice becomes the subject of the passive voice.
• We add the verb TO BE in the same tense as the active voice or the tense we
want to use. .
• The verb is converted to its 3rd form.
 Active Voice
The storm caused the delay of the flight

(subject) (verb) (object)

Passive Voice
The delay of the flight was caused by the storm

(object) (h.verb) (m.verb) (preposition) (subject)

Some sentences cannot be converted to the
passive voice.
Sentences containing intransitive verbs cannot be converted to the
passive voice.

For example: ‘The lion roared’, ‘the glass cracked’

(since these sentences do not contain an object, they cannot be
converted to the passive voice)
Activities
A- Change these sentences from active to passive (mixed tenses):

1. People speak Portuguese in Brazil.

2. The Government is planning a new road near my house.

3. My grandfather built this house in 1943.

4. Picasso was painting Guernica at that time.

5. The cleaner has cleaned the office.

6. He had written three books before 1867.

B- Complete the text using the phrases from the box. The first one has been done for you.

A plane carrying 15 members of the government to a conference in Brussels is known to have experienced a
small scale fire earlier this morning. The plane ________________ about 20 minutes into its journey when the
fire occurred in the luggage department. It ________________ how the plane caught fire, but early eyewitness
reports confirm that a trail of smoke ________________ coming from the undercarriage. The fire
________________ rapidly under control , but the pilot ________________ make an emergency landing. Five
people ________________ treated for shock. The plane ________________ with businesspeople flying to
Belgium.

All 209 passengers ________________ stay behind for questioning after landing at a military airport in
northern France. Police ________________ treating the incident as suspicious.
 C- Go to… and do the activity.

https://es.liveworksheets.com/worksheets/en/English_as_a_Second_Language_(ESL)/Pass
ive_voice/Passive_voice_-_multiple_choice_yj153672nx#worksheet
Thank You