Active and Passive Voice in English Grammar with Examples

When explaining English grammar to your kid, teaching active and passive voice is a key step in building strong communication skills. These two voices determine how we structure our sentences and shift the focus between the action and who is performing it.

What is Active Voice?

In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. The sentence follows a clear, simple structure, making it easy for readers or listeners to understand who is doing what. Active voice sentences are direct and dynamic, often used in everyday conversations and storytelling.

What is Passive Voice?

In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The sentence focuses more on the recipient of the action rather than the person or thing performing it. Passive voice is often used in formal writing or when the performer is unknown or not important.

Importance in Sentence Structure

Both active and passive voice have their place in language. While active voice is straightforward and lively, passive voice is useful when the focus needs to be on the action or the object rather than the subject. Understanding how to use both will help your child vary sentence structures and enhance their writing.

Now that you have a clearer picture of how active and passive voices differ, let's explore each in more detail.

Active Voice

Let’s dive deeper into active voice, which is the more commonly used structure in English. It’s simple, straightforward, and easy to understand—perfect for young learners who are just starting to learn sentence structures.

Definition: Subject Performs the Action

In an active voice sentence, the subject (the “who” or “what”) carries out the action (the verb) and affects the object (the “what” or “whom”). The active voice keeps things direct, with the focus on the doer of the action.

Structure: Subject + Verb + Object

The basic structure of an active voice sentence follows a simple formula:

• Subject + Verb + Object

Here’s how it works:

• Subject: The person or thing doing the action.

• Verb: The action being performed.

• Object: The person or thing that the action is happening to.

Examples of Active Voice Sentences

Active voice sentences are often used in daily communication because they are easy to follow. Here are some examples:

1. The dog chased the ball.

• Subject: The dog

• Verb: chased

• Object: the ball

2. She reads a book.

• Subject: She

• Verb: reads

• Object: a book

3. The teacher explained the lesson.

• Subject: The teacher

• Verb: Explained

• Object: the lesson

As you can see, the subject is doing the action in all these sentences. Active voice makes the meaning clear and the sentences easy to understand.

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Now that we've explored active voice, let’s move on to passive voice, where the focus shifts from the subject performing the action to the action being received.

Passive Voice

Passive voice can make a sentence feel more formal or shift the focus to the action or the object rather than the doer.

Definition: Subject Receives the Action

In passive voice, the subject is no longer the doer of the action. Instead, the subject is affected by the action, and the focus moves away from the person or thing performing it. This structure is especially useful when the doer of the action is unknown or not important, or when the writer wants to highlight the object of the action.

Structure: Object + Verb + Subject

The structure of a passive voice sentence is different from that of an active sentence. The general formula for passive voice is:

• Object + Verb + Subject

Here’s how it works:

• Object: The person or thing that the action is being done to.

• Verb: The action, which is usually in a past participle form (e.g., “was,” “is,” “has been”).

• Subject: The person or thing performing the action (this often comes at the end of the sentence or may be omitted).

Examples of Passive Voice Sentences

Now, let’s look at how passive voice sentences are structured:

1. The ball was chased by the dog.

• Object: The ball

• Verb: was chased

• Subject: by the dog

2. A book is being read by her.

• Object: A book

• Verb: is being read

• Subject: by her

3. The lesson was explained by the teacher.

• Object: The lesson

• Verb: was explained

• Subject: by the teacher

In these examples, notice how the focus shifts from the doer (dog, her, teacher) to the object (ball, book, lesson). Passive voice makes the action or recipient the star of the sentence.

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Understanding passive voice helps your kids improve their writing flexibility and can make it sound more polished and formal. Next, let’s explore how active and passive voices differ in structure and usage!

Differences Between Active and Passive Voice

Understanding the difference between active and passive voice is essential for clear and effective communication. While both voices describe actions, they focus on different aspects of the sentence. Let’s break down the key differences between active and passive voice.

1. Focus on Action vs. Recipient

One of the main differences between active and passive voice is where the focus lies in the sentence.

• Active Voice focuses on the doer of the action—the subject. The sentence emphasizes who is performing the action.

Example: The teacher explained the lesson.

Here, the focus is on the teacher performing the action of explaining.

• Passive Voice shifts the focus to the recipient of the action—the object. The sentence highlights what is being done to the subject, rather than who is doing it.

Example: The lesson was explained by the teacher.

In this sentence, the focus is on the lesson, the recipient of the action, and the teacher (the doer) comes later in the sentence.

2. Sentence Structure Comparison

The structure of active and passive voice sentences differs:

• Active Voice follows a straightforward pattern: Subject + Verb + Object.

Example: The cat chased the mouse.

• Passive Voice flips the structure around: Object + Verb + Subject (often the subject is omitted if not needed).

Example: The mouse was chased by the cat.

The sentence structure in passive voice may seem a bit more complex, but it allows for flexibility in writing.

3. Example Comparisons

To help illustrate the difference, here are a few examples:

• Active Voice: She ate the cake.

• Subject: She | Verb: ate | Object: the cake

• Passive Voice: The cake was eaten by her.

• Object: The cake | Verb: was eaten | Subject: by her

As you can see, the focus shifts from "she" (the doer) to "the cake" (the receiver of the action).

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Now that we’ve seen the key differences, let’s explore how your kid can convert active sentences to passive ones and vice versa!

Rules for Converting Active to Passive Voice

Converting sentences from active voice to passive voice may seem tricky at first, but once your kid knows the rules, it becomes a fun challenge! Let's walk through the steps to help you and your child learn this skill.

4. Identify Subject, Verb, Object

The first step in converting an active sentence to a passive is to identify the subject, verb, and object. These three parts of the sentence are the foundation for the conversion process.

• Subject: The person or thing performing the action.

• Verb: The action being performed.

• Object: The person or thing receiving the action.

For example, in the sentence "The dog chased the ball," the subject is the dog, the verb is chased, and the object is the ball.

5. Rearrange Sentence and Verb Form

Once you've identified the key components, it’s time to rearrange them:

• Move the object to the beginning of the sentence. This will become the subject in the passive voice.

• The subject becomes the agent of the action and will be placed at the end, preceded by the word "by" (or may be omitted if not needed).

• The verb changes to a form of the "to be" verb (am, is, are, was, were), and the main verb changes to its past participle form.

Using our example, "The dog chased the ball", the passive voice sentence would be:

"The ball was chased by the dog."

6. Tense and Agreement Maintenance

When converting from active to passive, it’s essential to maintain the original tense of the sentence. This ensures the meaning stays intact.

• Present tense: The cake is baked by her.

• Past tense: The cake was baked by her.

• Future tense: The cake will be baked by her.

Additionally, make sure that subject-verb agreement is maintained. If the subject is singular, the verb should also be singular, and if plural, the verb should be plural.

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Now that you know how to convert sentences, let’s explore how to use active and passive voices in different tenses!

Usage in Different Tenses

Understanding how active and passive voices work across different tenses is essential for using them correctly in everyday language. Tenses show us when an action takes place—whether in the present, past, or future. Let's explore how your kid can use active and passive voice in various tenses.

1. Simple Present, Past, Future Examples

In each tense, the transformation from active to passive follows specific rules, and it's essential to understand how to use them correctly.

• Simple Present: The subject performs the action regularly or habitually.

• Active: The teacher explains the lesson.

• Passive: The lesson is explained by the teacher.

• Simple Past: The action was completed in the past.

• Active: The students completed the homework.

• Passive: The homework was completed by the students.

• Simple Future: The action will happen in the future.

• Active: The chef will cook the meal.

• Passive: The meal will be cooked by the chef.

As you can see, converting from active to passive voice in these tenses involves changing the verb form (am/is/are, was/were, will be) while keeping the subject-object relationship intact.

2. Continuous and Perfect Tenses

In continuous and perfect tenses, the verb forms change to show the ongoing or completed nature of the action.

• Present Continuous:

• Active: She is reading a book.

• Passive: A book is being read by her.

• Past Continuous:

• Active: They were building a house.

• Passive: A house was being built by them.

• Present Perfect:

• Active: They have finished the project.

• Passive: The project has been finished by them.

• Past Perfect:

• Active: She had cleaned the room.

• Passive: The room had been cleaned by her.

Understanding the use of continuous and perfect tenses in passive voice helps your child express ongoing and completed actions clearly and accurately.

3. Modal Verbs in Passive Voice

When we use modal verbs like can, should, must, etc., they also play a role in the passive voice. Here's how:

• Active: She can complete the task.

• Passive: The task can be completed by her.

The structure remains the same, with the modal verb preceding the passive verb form.

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By now, you've got a solid understanding of using active and passive voice across different tenses. Next, let's dive into practical examples and exercises to test your child's skills!

Practical Examples with Solutions

Now that we’ve covered the theory behind active and passive voice, it’s time to put that knowledge into practice! Let’s look at a few examples of active-to-passive conversions and passive-to-active conversions to see how they work in real sentences. This will help your child understand the concept better and get more comfortable with using both voices.

1. Active to Passive Conversions

Converting an active sentence to a passive one involves changing the focus of the sentence—from the doer of the action (subject) to the receiver of the action (object). Here’s how it works:

• Active: The cat chased the mouse.

• Passive: The mouse was chased by the cat.

In this example, the subject the cat becomes the agent in the passive sentence, and the mouse moves to the front, becoming the subject.

• Active: The teacher teaches the students.

• Passive: The students are taught by the teacher.

Notice how the verb changes to its correct form of "to be" (are) and the main verb (teach) becomes "taught."

2. Passive to Active Conversions

Now let’s see how we can reverse the process—converting passive sentences into active ones. It’s all about bringing the subject back to the front and making it the doer of the action!

• Passive: The book was read by the student.

• Active: The student read the book.

The focus shifts back to the student as the subject performing the action.

• Passive: The cake was baked by my mom.

• Active: My mom baked the cake.

The subject my mom becomes the focus of the sentence, and the verb changes back to its simple form.

These exercises are great ways for your child to practice and understand how the subject, object, and verb play different roles in both active and passive sentences. 

Conclusion

Learning voice in English grammar, including both active and passive voice, is essential for expressing ideas clearly and effectively. Active voice tends to be more direct and concise, while passive voice provides flexibility and shifts the emphasis to the action or its recipient. 

Each voice has its unique advantages and applications, making it important to understand when and how to use them in different contexts. For more personalized learning experiences, Vedantu offers engaging, interactive lessons that help students grasp complex voice English grammar concepts. Book a free demo session today and start learning English grammar with confidence!