Active and Passive Voice Notes

Active Voice

  • Definition: The subject is the person or thing performing the action in the sentence.
    • Example: "The dog chased the ball."
    • Subject: The dog (who did it?)
    • Verb: chased (what did they do?)
  • Advantages:
    • Clear and direct communication of the action and the doer.

Passive Voice

  • Definition: The subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, while the doer may come later or may not be mentioned at all.
    • Example: "The ball was chased by the dog."
    • Subject: The ball (what received the action?)
    • Verb: was chased (what happened to it?)
  • Another Example: "The window was broken."
    • The window is the subject; however, the doer is unknown or not emphasized.

Reasons for Using Passive Voice

  • When the action is more significant than the doer.
  • When the doer is unknown or irrelevant.
  • When emphasizing the receiver of the action is preferred.

Construction Patterns

  • Active: Subject (doer) + Verb + Object (receiver)
  • Passive: Object (receiver) + Passive Verb Form + (optional) "by" + Subject (doer)
Key Passive Verb Forms
  • Uses a form of the verb "to be" combined with the past participle of the main verb.

Conceptualizing the Voices

  • Active Voice: Think of it as an actor performing the action on stage.
  • Passive Voice: Visualize the object on stage experiencing the action directed toward it.

When to Use Passive Voice

  1. To draw attention away from the performer of the action.
    • Example: "The ice cream was spilled on the new sofa."
  2. To emphasize the receiver of the action.
    • Example: "The documents have been organized in alphabetical order."
  3. To indicate an unknown or irrelevant performer of the action.
    • Example: "The house was ransacked."

Tense Conjugations

  • Present Simple

    • Active: The lawyers argue the case.
    • Passive: The case is argued by the lawyers.
    • Form: am/is/are + past participle

  • Past Simple

    • Active: Everybody believed the witness’s testimony.
    • Passive: The witness’s testimony was believed.
    • Form: was/were + past participle

  • Future Simple

    • Active: Officials will convene court at ten o'clock.
    • Passive: Court will be convened at ten o'clock.
    • Form: will be + past participle

  • Present Progressive

    • Active: The lawyer is asking tough questions in court.
    • Passive: Tough questions are being asked in court.
    • Form: am/is/are + being + past participle

  • Past Progressive

    • Active: Local media were covering the trial.
    • Passive: The trial was being covered by local media.
    • Form: was/were + being + past participle

  • Present Perfect

    • Active: The evidence has impressed the jury.
    • Passive: The jury has been impressed by the evidence.
    • Form: has/have + been + past participle

  • Past Perfect

    • Active: People had accused the defendant of other crimes.
    • Passive: The defendant had been accused of other crimes.
    • Form: had + been + past participle

  • Future Perfect

    • Active: The jury will have reached a verdict by noon.
    • Passive: A verdict will have been reached by noon.
    • Form: will have + been + past participle

Conversion Rules for Active and Passive Voice

  • Active

    • Simple Tense: Brendon plays cricket.
    • Continuous Tense: Brendon is playing cricket.
    • Perfect Tense: Brendon has played cricket.
    • Perfect Continuous Tense: Brendon has been playing cricket.

  • Passive

    • Simple Tense: Cricket is played by Brendon.
    • Continuous Tense: Cricket is being played by Brendon.
    • Perfect Tense: Cricket has been played by Brendon.
    • Perfect Continuous: Cricket has been being played by Brendon. (Note: Commonly used forms may disallow passive construction in Future Continuous, so these usually wouldn't exist)