Active & Passive Voice

Defining Voice
Voice is a characteristic of verbs
which indicates the relation of the
verbs action to its subject.
The voice of a verb may be either
active or passive.

 There are two special forms for verbs

called voice:
Active voice
Passive voice

Why should writers think about their

verbs?
Verbs are the most important of all your
tools. They push the sentence forward and
give it momentum. Active verbs push hard;
passive verbs tug fitfully.
-- William Zinsser,
On Writing Well

 The active voice is the "normal" voice. This

is the voice that we use most of the time. In
the active voice, the subject performs the
action:
Active

Subject

Verb

Object

Cats

eat

fish.

In other words, the object receives the action

and usually comes at the end of the
sentence

 The passive voice is less usual. In the

passive voice, the subject receives the
action of the verb.
Passive

Object

Verb

Subject

Fish

are eaten
(by)

Cats

In this case, the object comes at the

beginning of the sentence.

Active Voice
Active voice verbs are used when
the subject is acting in a sentence.
Example:
Cindy steered the boat.

Steered is an active verb because

it allows the subject to undertake
an action.

Passive Voice
Passive voice verbs are used when
the subject is being acted upon in a
sentence.
Example:
The mountains peak was reached by
Ed Danvers.

Was reached are considered

passive because they indicate that
the subject (peak) is receiving an
action.

Examples:
Active: Active sentences (subject)
focus (action, done by the subject)
on the person doing the action.
Passive: The recipient of the action
(subject) is focused (action, not
done by the subject), on in a passive
sentence.

How to change active into

passive
A sentence must have an object in
order to be changed into passive.
Only transitive verbs may be
changed into passive voice.
Some Rules

Passive voice rules

An Active sentence has the following
structure:
Subject + verb + object
A passive sentence has the following
structure:
Object of the active sentence +
be/is/am/are/was/were/been + past
participle form of the verb + by +
subject of the active sentence

Present simple: He repairs the car.

The car is repaired by him.
Present continuous: He is repairing the car.
The car is being repaired by him.
Past simple: He repaired the car.
The car was repaired by him.
Past continuous: He was repairing the car.
The car was being repaired by him.
Present perfect: He has repaired the car.
The car has been repaired by him.

Past perfect: He had repaired the car.

The car had been repaired by him.
Future simple: He will repair the car.
The car will be repaired by him.
Present conditional: He would repair the car.
The car would be repaired by him.
Perfect conditional: He would have repaired
the car.
The car would have been repaired by him.

Examples:
Active: The explorers climbed the
tallest
mountain in the range.
Passive: The tallest mountain in the
range
was climbed by the
explorers.

Examples:
Active: This great scholar compiled
the
largest collection of
Shakespeares sources.
Passive: The largest collection of
Shakespeares sources was
compiled by this scholar.

Active versus Passive

Active Voice
More emphatic
More concise
Used as the general
rule

Passive Voice
Used when you want
to stress the
importance of the
action or its recipient.
Used when the actor is
unknown or irrelevant.
Used when one wants
to avoid mentioning
the actor: Ex.
Mistakes were made.

When to use passive voice

Use passive voice when you do not wish to
emphasize the subject of the sentence.
Example:
Smoking is prohibited. (passive)
The management prohibits smoking. (active)
The passive sentence takes attention away from
management, so they do not have to be in the role
of the bad guys.

Passive Voice (cond)

Also use passive voice when you wish to
emphasize what happened and the
person or thing acting is unknown or
unimportant.
Example
Terrorists were found in six cities.
The use of passive emphasizes the finding of
terrorists, not who found them.

When to use active voice

Use active voice unless you are
required or have very specific
reasons for doing otherwise.
Active voice generally leads to more
concise writing.
It clarifies who is performing the
action.
Remember: Staying active is a healthy practice, especially
in your writing!

 A: 1. You should not switch voices in the

same sentence!
2. Be careful with the grammatical
construction.

Examples of switching voices in

the same sentence:
The contentious issue was
contemplated as the debaters
prepared to present their arguments.
ii. Once the books were finished, the
writers talked to the publisher.
iii. The pipes in the kitchen were fixed,
then the plumber started repairing
the showers.
i.

 Switching voices can confuse the reader.

If your reader is confused, then your
writing is not effective or efficient.

 Q: How do I fix it (switching voices)?

 A: Make all parts of your sentence

consistent. Usually, you should change
the passive voice to the active voice.

Corrections:
Incorrect: Once the books were
finished, the
writers talked to
the publisher.
Correct: Once the writers finished
their
books, they talked to
the
publisher.

Corrections:
Incorrect: The pipes in the kitchen
were
fixed, then the
plumber started
repairing
the showers.
Correct: The plumber fixed the pipes
in the
kitchen then started
repairing the
showers.

How to avoid passive voice

Many English verbs have been changed
into useful nouns with the use of a suffix.
Announce announcement
Propose - proposal
Depart departure
Meet meeting
For active voice sentences use the verb
instead of the noun form of these kinds of
words.

Examples of Mistaken Grammatical

Construction in the Passive Voice:

i. The horses will groomed.

ii. The great fir tree had cut down.
iii. The hungry bear would shot by the
hunter.
iv. Shoes is made in the factory.
v. Bicycles should not be leaving in
the driveway.
vi. This skyscraper will finish in 2009.

 Q: How do I fix it (mistaken grammatical

construction in the passive voice)?

 1. Make sure to know who is receiving the

action and who is doing the action.
2. Verify that you have BE + past
participle in your sentence!
3. Verify your tenses and your subject-verb
agreement!

Corrections:
Incorrect:

The horses will groomed.

Correct:
The horses will be
groomed.

Corrections:
Incorrect:
down.

The great fir tree had cut

Correct:
been cut

The great fir tree had

down.

Corrections:
Incorrect:
shot by

The hungry bear would

the hunter.

Correct:
be shot

The hungry bear would

by the hunter.

Summary
Use active voice unless specified
otherwise.
Make sure the subject is acting and not
being acted upon.
Use the verb form of words without
suffixes
Place subjects in front of the action they
perform (this often eliminates to be
verbs)

Quiz
Decide which of the following
sentences use the passive voice and
which sentences use the active voice.
Correct the sentences that contain
either inappropriate uses of passive
voice or an abrupt shift from active to
passive voice.

Example:
-Before I began my research, only German
fascism was studied by me.
Passive construction
-Before I began my research, I only studied
German fascism.

Professor Warren assigned each

group a research project;
however, the documentary
sources were not located.
Incorrect Active-Passive Shift
Professor Warren assigned each
group a research project;
however, he could not locate the
documentary sources.

For the opening flag ceremony, a

dance was choreographed by Kema
Jones to Bill Withers song Lean on
Me.
Passive Construction
For the opening flag ceremony, Kema
Jones choreographed a dance to Bill
Withers song Lean on Me.

When the tickets are ready, the travel

agent notifies the client. Each ticket
is then listed on a daily register form,
and a copy of the itinerary is filed.
Incorrect Active-Passive Shift
When the tickets are ready, the travel
agent notifies the client. The agent
then lists the ticket on a daily register
form and files a copy of the itinerary.

Seismologists have examined data

concerning the recent earthquake,
and reports will be filed.
Incorrect Active-Passive Shift
Seismologists have examined data
concerning the recent earthquake,
and they will file reports.

Problems of famine, pollution,

dwindling resources, and arms
control were discussed by the
senator.
- Passive construction
The senator discussed problems of
famine, pollution, dwindling
resources, and arms control.

 Whenever an error was found by

Mrs. Clark, the entire paper had to
be rewritten by the student.
Passive Construction
Whenever an error was found by
Mrs. Clark, the student had to
rewrite the entire paper.