Active and Passive Voice Rules

Active and Passive Voice Rules: Having a good command of English is important for your education and career. Therefore, you should learn spoken English as well as written English. Learning spoken English is pretty simple. You just need to strengthen your basics like subject-verb agreement, tenses, active and passive voice, and some grammar rules. This blog will help you learn the basics of active and passive voice, which is a crucial section of English grammar. Understanding active and passive voice tools are important for candidates who are studying in school and those preparing for competitive exams. 

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Table of Content

Active voice

Passive voice

Rules for changing Active voice to Passive voice

Active and passive voice examples

Passive voice: Present tense

Passive voice: Past tense

Rules for changing Passive voice to Active voice

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What is an active and passive voice?

When we talk about English grammar, verbs have five different characteristics. These are person, mode, tense, and voice. In this blog, we will discuss the voice. There are two grammatical voices active voice and passive voice. We usually prefer using an active voice in sentences instead of a passive voice; however, both are important in English grammar.

Active voice

When we use active voice in our sentence, there is a subject that is acting up on the verb. In simple language, the subject acts as an active voice. Active voice sentences are direct and clear to understand. Let us take some instances to understand the concept of active voice in a better way.

• I do my homework.
• Reena sings the song.
• Rohan plays football.

The above-discussed three sentences have a basic voice structure that includes a subject, verb, and object. 
 

Passive voice

The passive voice, on the other hand, includes the acting of a subject by the verb. Passive voice is usually formed by combining 'to be' plus the past participle of the world. Performing the same typically demands the use of a preposition. This sounds more complex than it is; however, this helps a person identify the passive voice. 

Passive voices are quieter and weaker than active voices. Let us take some examples.

• My homework is done by me.
• The song is sung by Reena.
• Football is played by Rohan.

If we look over the examples, the structure of the sentence has been reciprocated. In the active voice, the structure was Subject+ Verb+ Object. 
In the Passive voice, the structure turned to Object+ Verb+ Subject. 

Another thing to notice is the change in the verb. In the passive voice, the verb is added with 'to be' + 'past participle of the verb'. Moreover, the addition of prepositions, usually 'by' is done in passive voice. 

Also read:
Tense Rules
Future Tense Rules
Present Tense Rules
150+ Best and Simple English Speech Topics For Students
What is a bonafide Certificate
Article on Importance of Education
 

Rules for changing Active voice to Passive voice

It is easy to convert an active voice into a passive voice. The following rules may help you-

• You need to change the structure so that the object in the active voice becomes the subject in the passive voice.
• You need to use the verb ‘to be' in the same tense as the root verb in the active voice.
• You need to make use of the past participle of the root verb.
• You need to make use of the past participle of the root verb.

Active and Passive voice examples

To help you understand better the active and passive voice, we have discussed some active and passive voice examples below-

Active: The chef cooks the food in our house.
Passive: The food is cooked by the chef in our house.

Active: We ate all the food.
Passive: All the food is eaten by us.

Active: Ram made a wall art yesterday.
Passive: The wall art was made by ram yesterday.
 

Passive voice: Present tense

If we have a sentence in the present tense, the use of 'is' or 'are' along with the past participle of the root verb will be done in the passive voice. Passive voice present is generally used for-

• Expressing beliefs, thoughts, and opinions
• Discussing processes

Passive voice: Past tense 

If we have a sentence in the past tense, use 'was' or 'were' along with the past participle of the root verb his done in a passive voice. Passive voice past is used for-

• Talking about events in history
• Describing crimes and accidents

Rules for changing Passive voice to Active voice

The following rules may help you to change passive voice to active voice-

• First of all, you will have to identify the agent in 'by the' or who or what is acting. 
• Once you recognize who is acting, make that agent the subject of the sentence.
• Now you have to change the verb hey accordingly.

Here are some examples of active and passive voice to provide you with a better understanding-

Passive: The bus is driven by the bus driver. 
Active: The bus driver drives the bus.

Passive: The bell is rung by the peon.
Active: The peon rings the bell.

Passive: The glass was broken by the children.
Active: The children broke the glass.