Active and passive voice
Active voice: In active sentences, the subject is active or the subject performs the actions.
For example
The cow (Subject) is eating (Verb) grass (Object).—Active Voice
Passive voice: In passive sentences, the subject is no longer active or the subject is acted upon by the verb
For example
Grass (Subject) is being eaten (Verb) by the cow (Object).—Passive Voice
Active and passive voice with tenses
| Simple Present Tense | |||
| is,am,are+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| He lights the candle. | The candle is lighted by him. | ||
| He does not light the candle. | The candle is not lighted by him. | ||
| Do you eat meat? | Is meat eaten by you? | ||
| Present Continuous Tense | |||
| is,am,are+being+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| I am driving a car. | A car is being driven by me. | ||
| I am not driving a car. | A car is not being driven by me. | ||
| Am I driving a car? | Is a car being driven by me? | ||
| Present Perfect Tense | |||
| has,have+been+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| She has stolen my book. | My book has been stolen by her. | ||
| She has not stolen my book. | My book has been stolen by her. | ||
| Has she stolen my book? | Has my book been stolen by her? | ||
| Simple Past Tense | |||
| was,were+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| She finished work. | Work was finished by her. | ||
| She did not finish work. | Work was not finished by her. | ||
| Did she finish work? | Was work finished by her? | ||
| Past Continuous Tense | |||
| was,were+being+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| He was revising his books. | His books were being revised by him. | ||
| He was not revising his books. | His books were not revising by him. | ||
| Was he revising his books? | Were his books revising by him? | ||
| Past Perfect Tense | |||
| had+been+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| I had completed the assignment. | The assignment had been completed by me. | ||
| I had not completed the assignment. | The assignment had not been completed by me. | ||
| Had I completed the assignment? | Had the assignment been completed by me? | ||
| Simple Future Tense | |||
| will,shall+be+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| My uncle will pay my tuition fee. | My tuition fee will be paid by my uncle. | ||
| My uncle will not pay my tuition fee. | My tuition fee will not be paid by my uncle. | ||
| Will my uncle pay my tuition fee? | Will my tuition fee be paid by my uncle? | ||
| Future Perfect Tense | |||
| will, shall+ have been+3rd verb | |||
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | ||
| We shall have done our home-work. | Our home -work shall have been done by us. | ||
| We shall not have done our home-work. | Our home -work shall not have been done by us. | ||
| Shall We have done our home –work? | Shall our home -work have been done by us? | ||
Note: In Present perfect continuous tense, Past perfect continuous tense, Future perfect continuous tense, Future perfect tense, we use the same sentence in passive voice. It means these tense cannot be changed in passive form.
Active and passive voice with modals
| Modals | Auxiliary Verb in Passive Voice | Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| Can/ Could | Can/Could+ be+ 3rdverb | I can solve these sums. | These sums can be solved by me. |
| I cannot solve these sums. | These sums cannot be solved by me. | ||
| Can I solve these sums? | Can these sums be solved by me? | ||
| Has to/ Have to | Has to/ Have to+3rdverb | He has to complete his assignment. | His assignment has to be completed by him? |
| Must | Must+3rd verb | You must learn this book. | This book must be learnt by you. |
| May | may+be+3rd verb | I may buy the book. | The book may be bought by me. |
| Might | might+ be+ 3rd Verb | They might play chess. | Chess might be played by them. |
| Should | should+ be+3rd verb | Students should learn all lessons. | All lessons should be learnt by students. |
Active and passive voice with Imperative Sentences
These are the sentences in which we express our feeling and emotions like command, order, advice, and request.
Rules
1. Lets + new object + be/Not be +past participle or 3rd form.
2. For sentences containing, Request, advice and order, we will use you are Requested to, advised to and ordered to .
Note: Always remove please and kind if they are given in the sentence.
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| Shut the door. | Let the door be shut. |
| Post the letter at once. | Let the letter be posted at once. |
| Always speak the truth. | Let the truth always be spoken. |
| Do not starve the cow. | Let the cow not be starved. |
| Let him help his brother. | Let his brother be helped by him. |
| Clean your room. | Let your room be cleaned. |
| Learn your lesson. | Let your lesson be learnt. |
| Please do me a favor tonight | You are requested to do me a favor tonight. |
| Get out of my house. | You are ordered to get out of mu house. |
| Kindly do not smoke in public place. | You are requested not to smoke in public place |
To make passive voice, first of all you have to use following rules.
1.Change the object into subject. If in object, we have a pronoun of object case convert that by following rules.
| me | I |
| You | You |
| her | She |
| them | They |
| us | We |
| him | He |
| it | It |
| whom | Who |
2. Change the subject into object. And use by before the object. If in subject, we have a pronoun of nominative case convert that by the following rules.
| I | by me |
| You | by you |
| She | by her |
| They | by them |
| We | by us |
| He | by him |
| It | by it |
| Who | by whom |
Some basic rules of active voice and voice are given below
- First of all, find subject, object and the main verb it means find SVO .
- Convert the object into subject.
- Use the suitable helping verb or auxiliary verb according to the tense. If helping verb is given, use verb as it is. But note that the helping verb used should be according to the object.
- Convert the verb into past participle or 3rd form of the verb.
- Use the preposition ) “by”.
- Convert the subject into object.
