active and passive voice

 

Active and Passive Voice.

What is Voice?

Voice shows whether the subject performs the action or receives the action.

• Active Voice: The subject does the action.
• Example: Ali writes a letter.
• Passive Voice: The subject receives the action.
• Example: A letter is written by Ali.

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Formula

Active Voice

Subject + Verb + Object

Example:

• Sara cleans the room.

Passive Voice

Object + Helping Verb + Past Participle (V3) + by + Subject

Example:

• The room is cleaned by Sara.

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Rules for Changing Active to Passive

1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. Use the correct helping verb according to the tense.
3. Change the main verb into its Past Participle (V3).
4. The subject comes after by (if necessary).
5. If there is no object, the sentence usually cannot be changed into passive.

Example:

• Active: The teacher teaches English.
• Passive: English is taught by the teacher.

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Tense-wise Rules

Tense	Active Voice	Passive Voice
Present Simple	writes	is/am/are + V3
Present Continuous	is writing	is/am/are being + V3
Present Perfect	has written	has/have been + V3
Past Simple	wrote	was/were + V3
Past Continuous	was writing	was/were being + V3
Past Perfect	had written	had been + V3
Future Simple	will write	will be + V3
Future Perfect	will have written	will have been + V3
Modal Verbs	can write	can be + V3

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Examples

Present Simple

Active:

• He eats an apple.

Passive:

• An apple is eaten by him.

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Present Continuous

Active:

• She is washing the clothes.

Passive:

• The clothes are being washed by her.

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Present Perfect

Active:

• They have finished the work.

Passive:

• The work has been finished by them.

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Past Simple

Active:

• Ahmed wrote a letter.

Passive:

• A letter was written by Ahmed.

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Past Continuous

Active:

• She was reading a book.

Passive:

• A book was being read by her.

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Past Perfect

Active:

• They had completed the project.

Passive:

• The project had been completed by them.

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Future Simple

Active:

• I will buy a car.

Passive:

• A car will be bought by me.

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Future Perfect

Active:

• She will have completed the work.

Passive:

• The work will have been completed by her.

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Modal Verbs

Active:

• You can solve the problem.

Passive:

• The problem can be solved by you.

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Pronoun Changes

Active	Passive
I	me
We	us
You	you
He	him
She	her
They	them
It	it

Example:

• I wrote the letter.
• The letter was written by me.

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Imperative Sentences

Active:

• Open the door.

Passive:

• Let the door be opened.

Active:

• Finish the work.

Passive:

• Let the work be finished.

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Interrogative Sentences

Active:

• Did Ali write the letter?

Passive:

• Was the letter written by Ali?

Active:

• Is she cooking food?

Passive:

• Is the food being cooked by her?

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Negative Sentences

Active:

• He does not play cricket.

Passive:

• Cricket is not played by him.

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Sentences That Cannot Be Changed into Passive

These usually have no object:

• He sleeps.
• Birds fly.
• The baby cried.
• She laughed.

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Common Verb Forms (V1 – V2 – V3)

V1	V2	V3
Write	Wrote	Written
Eat	Ate	Eaten
See	Saw	Seen
Make	Made	Made
Do	Did	Done
Go	Went	Gone
Buy	Bought	Bought
Read	Read	Read
Take	Took	Taken
Give	Gave	Given
Speak	Spoke	Spoken
Drive	Drove	Driven
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Break	Broke	Broken
Build	Built	Built

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Exam Tips

• Identify the object first.
• Use the correct helping verb according to the tense.
• Always use the Past Participle (V3) in passive voice.
• Use by + subject only when it is important to mention who performed the action.
• Practice identifying the tense before changing the sentence.

These notes cover the essential Active and Passive Voice rules commonly taught at the 1st Year Commerce level and are useful for exams.