Active & Passive Voice

Introduction
When the subject of a sentence does something, i.e. if the subject of a sentence is the doer
of some action, we say that the sentence or the verb of that sentence is in Active Voice.
When the subject of a sentence does not do anything, i.e. if the subject is not the doer of
any action but allows the Object of the preposition to do something to it, we say that the sentence or
he
verb
of
that
sentence
is
in PASSIVE
VOICE.
Look at these examples:
Active Voice
The cat killed the rat.
The cat = subject of the sentence
killed

= verb of the sentence

the rat = the object of the verb

Now, who killed whom? = the cat the subject of the sentence killed the rat the object of the
verb.
We say that this sentence or the verb of this sentence is in Active Voice because
the subject the cat does the killing.
Lets see what this sentence is about
PASSIVE VOICE
The rat was killed by the cat.
The rat = subject of the sentence
was killed = verb of the sentence
the cat = the object of the preposition by
Now, who killed whom?

The rat killed the cat? No.

Even in his sentence the cat killed the rat, but not the rat killed the cat!
Though the rat is actually the subject of the sentence, it is not doing anything
but passively allowing the cat which is the object of the preposition by to kill it.
As the subject of the sentence does not do anything but allows passively something
to be done to it, we say that this sentence or the verb of this sentence is inPASSIVE VOICE.
How do we know who does what? Well, the answer is in the VERB was killed!
the verb was killed one verb, two parts simple past tense Passive Voice.
Suppose the second sentence was like this: The rat killed the cat. (which might be correct according
to the grammar rules but would not be sensible) we would say that this sentence or the verb of this
sentence was in Active Voice.
Why do we use Active Voice and Passive Voice?
We use Active Voice when we want to say something about the subject of the sentence who does
what.
We use Passive Voice when we want to say what happened to something or someone rather than
who does it the result.

For example,
He broke the window. Active Voice
In this Active Voice sentence, we emphasize who does the action of breaking
He. So he is responsible or he should be punished and so on
The window is broken (by him or somebody). PASSIVE VOICE
In this Passive Voice sentence, we emphasize on what happened rather than who did it. So the
window must be repaired or boarded up and so on
Though we have an agent who did the action, we are more concerned about the result rather than
the person responsible for that.
In normal conversation, we first think of who should be given importance the agent responsible for
the action or the result of the action and then make the sentence. But to get the practice of making
these different expressions, we need to learn some rules and important points.
There are certain changes that take place when we change an Active Voice sentence into a Passive
Voice sentence. Though the meaning or the sense of the sentence makes it clear for us whether the
sentence or the verb of the sentence is Active or Passive, at the initial stage, as we are now, it may
help us to understand the Voice better if we know the changes first. The real purpose or use of the
Voices will be dealt later in this sub-topic.
The changes
a) The cat killed the rat. Active Voice
The rat was killed by the cat. PASSIVE VOICE
*The Subject of the sentence the cat in the Active Voice is changed into the Object of the preposition
by in the Passive Voice.
The Object of the preposition by is normally omitted in speech and in writing; we, however,
keep using it in every sentence we make or change to get ourselves used to this point.
Remember that just because we do not see or hear an Object of the preposition in any Passive
Voice sentence, we cannot say that it is not passive. By the time we are through with some
rules and important points, we will be able to recognize the difference. We need some
patience, of course. In fact, knowing the difference between the Active and Passive is what we
are actually doing right now!
b) The cat killed the rat.
Active Voice
The rat was killed by the cat.
PASSIVE VOICE
**The Verb of the Active Voice killed is changed into was killed in the Passive Voice
c) The cat killed the rat.
Active Voice
The rat was killed by the cat.
PASSIVE VOICE
***The Object of the verb the rat in the Active Voice is changed into the subject of the Passive Voice
sentence.
Some important points:
To change an Active Voice verb into Passive, the Verb must be a TRANSITIVE VERB, i.e. the Verb
must have, at least, one direct or indirect object because that object becomes the subject of the
Passive Voice sentence. The Subject of the Active sentence which becomes the Object of the
preposition (normally by, but depending on the context, it may be with) in the Passive is usually
placed at the end of the sentence, and is omitted in most of the expressions. There are some Verbs
which can never be used in the Passive even if they are in Transitive Verb position, i.e. even if they
have an Object. There are certain situations where using the Passive Voice makes the sentence
meaningless, senseless and ridiculous.