Active and Passive Voice: Understanding the concept of active and passive voice is very much important for students of all grades at the school level as well as the competitive level. This forms the basis of the foundation of English grammar. So in this article, we discuss the concept of active and passive voice. So before directly jumping to know what is the active and passive voice, it is necessary to what is Voice.
What is Voice of Verb?
The voice of a verb is the verb that expresses whether the subject in the sentence has performed or received the action. For example, in the sentence
- Ram helps Hari.
- Hari is helped by Ram.
In the first sentence, the form of the verb shows that the subject does something, that is, the subject has performed or done something. So the verb helps is in said to be the active voice.
In the second sentence, the form of the verb shows that something is done to the subject or the subject has received something. So the verb helped is said to be the passive voice.
Types of Voice of Verb
There are two types of voice-
- Active Voice
- Passive Voice
Types of Voice of Verb | |
Active Voice | Passive Voice |
Definition: A verb is in active voice when its form shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject does something or in other words, is the doer of the action. Hence in an active voice, the subject is the doer. | Definition: A verb is said to be a passive voice when its form shows that something is done to the person or thing denoted by the subject. Hence in passive voice, the subject is a passive state, that is, suffers or receives some action. |
Examples:
| Examples:
|
Rules for Conversion of Active and Passive Voice
The rule for conversion from active voice to passive voice is as follows-
Rule1: First and foremost, identify the subject, verb, and object(S+ V+O) in the sentence to convert to passive voice.
Rule2: Then interchange the object and subject with each other, that is, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Rule3: Change the base verb in the active sentence into the past participle(third form of the verb) in a passive sentence.
Rule4: The word by will be used before the subject in passive voice.
Rule 5: The pronoun in the sentence will also be changed.
Active Voice Pronoun | Passive Voice Pronoun |
I | Me |
We | Us |
He | Him |
She | Her |
They | Them |
You | You |
It | It |
Rule 6: While conversion use suitable auxiliary verbs.
Active and Passive Voice in Tenses form
The passive voice is formed with the suitable tense of the verb followed by the past participle. Study the table given below-
Tense | Active Voice | Passive Voice | Examples |
Simple Present | Subject + Verb + Object | Object + is/am/are + V3 + by Subject | Active: I eat mangoes Passive: Mangoes are eaten by me. |
Present Continuous Tense | Subject + is/am/are + verb + ing + Object | Object + is/am/are + being + V3 + by Subject | Active: Ramesh is calling Neena. Passive: Neena is being called by Ramesh |
Present Perfect Tense | Subject + have/has + V3 + Object | Object + has/have + been + V3 + by Subject | Active: I have made some cakes. Passive: Some cakes have been made by me. |
Simple Past tense | Subject + Verb(past tense) + Object | Object + was/were + V3 + by Subject | Active: Preeti stole my clothes. Passive: My clothes were stolen by Preeti |
Past Continuous Tense | Subject + was/were + Verb + ing+ Object | Object + was/were + being + V3 + by Subject | Active: The postman was delivering the letters. Passive: The letters were being delivered by the postman. |
Past Perfect Tense | Subject + had + V3 + Object | Object + had been + V3 + by subject | Active: The girls had eaten all the muffins. Passive: All the muffins had been eaten by girls. |
Simple Future Tense | Subject + shall /will +V1 + Object | Object + shall/will + be +V3 + by subject | Active: We shall finish the whole work by 6 pm. Passive: The whole work will be finished by us by 6 pm |
Future Perfect Tense | Subject + shall/will + have + V3 + Object | Object + shall/will + have been + V3 + by subject | Active: They will have won the football match. Passive: The football match will have been won by them. |
An exception to the rule: No passive Voice formation for the following tenses can be formed, that is, Present Perfect Continuous Tense, Past Perfect Continuous Tense, Future Perfect Continuous Tense, and Future Continuous Tense]
Exercise of Active and Passive Voice
Go through the sentence and Identify
- Vineeta sings beautiful songs.
- Riya helps everyone.
- Pooja was being beaten by her teacher.
- Lucky is helped by Steve
- The builder is building the tower.
- The woodcutter cuts the wood.
- The man dropped the ashes into the river.
- The parrot was shot by the naughty boy.
- By whom was German taught to you?
- Vipin lost the money.
Answers
1. Active voice 2. Active voice 3. Passive voice 4. Passive Voice 5. Active voice 6. Active voice 7. Active voice 8. Passive voice 9. Passive voice 10. Active voice
Related Links- | |
Verb | Helping Verbs |
Tense chart |
Important Links