Active and Passive Voice

Worksheet
What do we mean by "voice"?
Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject of a sentence does the action
(= the active voice) or is affected by it (= the passive voice).

Examples:

 In the sentence "James hit the ball," the verb "hit" is in the active voice. In other
words, the form "hit" shows that the subject (James) did the action. The sentence
"James hit the ball" is an active sentence.

 In the sentence "The ball was hit by James," the verb "was hit" is in the passive
voice. In other words, the form "was hit" shows that the subject (The ball) was
affected by the action. The sentence "The ball was hit by James" is a passive
sentence.

Here are some more examples:

Active: The ball hit Janet.
Passive: Janet was hit / Janet was hit by the ball.

Active: He wrote a letter.

Passive: The letter was written /
The letter was written by him.

Active: The mailman carried the mail.

Passive: The mail was carried /
The mail was carried by the mailman.

Active: Kevin took a picture.

Passive: A picture was taken / A picture was taken by Kevin.

Active: They took the kids for a walk.

Passive: They kids were taken for a walk /
 The kids were taken for a walk by their moms.

Active or Passive?
Most of the sentences in English are active sentences.

And if you think about it, they tend to be much more simple than passive sentences.

Have a look at these sentence and see for yourself:

We ate lunch / The lunch was eaten.

I have written a book / A book was written.
They will buy a yacht / A yacht will be bought.

Which version is more simple and common?

However, in some cases, it can be useful to use the passive voice.

For example, when you want to tell about an action, but you don't want to
mention who does it:

"Joe broke the window."

(It is clear who did it.)

"The window was broken."

(Here you only describe the action, without mentioning who actually did it.)

Another use of the passive voice is when you want to emphasize the object and not
the subject:

"Charles sold the company."

(Here the emphasis is on Charles doing the action.)

"The company was sold."

(Here the emphasis is on the fact that the company was sold.)

What do we mean by "voice"?

Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject of a sentence does the action
(= the active voice) or is affected by it (= the passive voice).

Examples:

 In the sentence "James hit the ball," the verb "hit" is in the active voice. In other
words, the form "hit" shows that the subject (James) did the action. The sentence
"James hit the ball" is an active sentence.

 In the sentence "The ball was hit by James," the verb "was hit" is in the passive
voice. In other words, the form "was hit" shows that the subject (The ball) was
affected by the action. The sentence "The ball was hit by James" is a passive
sentence.
 What do "active" and "passive" mean?
In the active voice, the agent (person/thing doing the action) is the subject of the
sentence.

For example:

A dog.

The dog bit the mailman.

Now, in the passive voice, the agent is either not known or is less important.

For example:

A mailman.

The mailman was bitten.

(The agent is not known or not specified.)

The mailman was bitten by the dog.

(The agent, "the dog," is less important than the object "the mailman.")

How do we make a passive sentence?

The important factor in creating the passive sentence is the third form of the
verb (also called V3, or past participle).

Regular verbs have the same past participle and simple past form, but irregular verbs can be
different.

For example:

Regular verbs
Verb 1 Verb 2 Verb 3
(First form of the verb) (Second form of the verb) (Third form of the verb)
= base form = simple past form = past participle form

work worked worked

 help helped helped

bake baked baked

Irregular verbs
Verb 1 Verb 2 Verb 3
(First form of the verb) (Second form of the verb) (Third form of the verb)
= base form = simple past form = past participle form

bite bit bitten

draw drew drawn

come came come

Once you know the correct past participle, then the verb BE in the correct form is used to
make the passive.

Examples:

 The mailman is bitten every day.

 The mailman was bitten yesterday.

 The mailman has been bitten today.

 The mailman will be bitten tomorrow.

 The mailman doesn't like to be bitten.

Any tense in English can be used in the passive voice, including the infinitive.

Some real active and passive voice examples

The passive voice is more common in written English and is often avoided in spoken
English.

It is often used in newspapers, and in academic writing and reports.

Examples:

 Taxes to be raised next year. (newspaper headline)

This is the infinitive passive.

 The swimming pool is closed because it is being cleaned. (a notice)

This is the present progressive passive.
  The house was built in 1898.
This is the simple past passive.

 The concert tonight has been canceled because the guitarist is sick.
This is the present perfect passive.

 Your groceries will be delivered this afternoon.

This is the future passive (using will.)
In all of these examples, we either don't know who is performing / performed / will
perform the action, or it isn't important.

Compare the above sentences with the following real examples of the active
voice:
 The government has decided to raise taxes next year.
(The government performed the action.)

 Cleaners are working in this area. Please be careful.

 They are building a house across the road from my office.

(Here, spoken English is avoiding the passive by using "They are" instead. This is
very common.)
 I'm very disappointed they've canceled the concert tonight.

Why use the passive voice?

As we've seen above, the passive voice is often avoided in spoken English, so why
bother?

The passive voice gives a more formal tone to your writing.

It also enables you to speak more neutrally about things, rather than using your own
opinions, for example:
"It is said that . . ."
"It is believed that . . . "
And so forth.

It is also important to understand the passive when you are reading, since if you don't
realize the passive voice is being used, it can lead to misunderstandings of the text.

"Have Something Done"

One of the ways we use the passive voice is to talk about an action without saying who did
it.

For example, we can see this person relaxing because someone else is taking care of his
problems! How can we express this meaning with the passive voice?

There is a special passive construction with have:

have + something (the object) + past participle

 example: I have my business taken care of.
(Somebody is taking care of my business.)

another example: He has his dog walked.

(Somebody walks his dog.)

In this construction, like in all passive sentences, we need to use the past participle.

Remember that for regular verbs, this is the same as the simple past.

However, for irregular verbs, the past participle can be different!

Be sure to review them and use the correct form of the verb in passive constructions.

We can use this construction in the following cases:

1. We make someone else do something for us, or we pay someone else to do
something for us.

2. Something negative happens and we have no control over it (something bad

happens to us).

First, let's talk about when someone else does something that we ask of them.

Example:

 Jeremy's car is in terrible condition! He is going to have his car fixed. He hopes it
won't be too expensive!

This means that Jeremy will not do the work himself. He will pay a professional mechanic
to do the work for him. He will have the work done to his car.

More examples:

 The living room in Terry's new house is a terrible salmon pink color. She wants
to have it painted before she moves in.

 Lizzy can't talk right now. She's having her hair cut by the barber at the moment.

 I need to go to the dentist today to have a tooth pulled. I hope it's very fast!

 Will you have your party catered, or are you going to cook all the food yourself?

 Emily had her dress sewn by a professional seamstress. She wanted it to look
perfect for her special day!

We can use this construction in any of the English verb tenses. All we need to do is use
the correct form of have depending on the verb tense we are using. The rest of the
construction (object + past participle) remains exactly the same.

Now, let's look at the second meaning of have + object + past participle.

We can also use this construction when something negative happens to us when we
don't expect it or want it.

Example:

 The homeowner had all his money stolen! The police still haven't caught the
mysterious robber.

The owner of the money did not want it to be stolen. This was a negative experience that
this person suffered.

More examples:
 The children are all upset because they had their toys taken away. They wanted
to keep playing!

 The event was supposed to be outside, but look at all this rain! The organizer, Ms.
Huffington, is terribly upset because she's had her big event ruined.

 Bruno is still not back at work. He says he's had his heart broken! It's so terrible
that he's going through that divorce.

 Phil doesn't want to come back to class. He had his feelings hurt last week, and he
just isn't enthusiastic about the subject anymore.

Poor Phil! He suffered a negative experience that he did not expect! He certainly didn't
want to be teased!

Active and Passive Voice Examples

But first, here is a reminder:

What do we mean by "voice"?

Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject of a sentence does the action
(= the active voice) or is affected by it (= the passive voice).

Examples:

 In the sentence "James hit the ball," the verb "hit" is in the active voice. In other
words, the form "hit" shows that the subject (James) did the action. The sentence
"James hit the ball" is an active sentence.

 In the sentence "The ball was hit by James," the verb "was hit" is in the passive
voice. In other words, the form "was hit" shows that the subject (The ball) was
affected by the action. The sentence "The ball was hit by James" is a passive
sentence.
 What do "active" and "passive" mean?
In the active voice, the agent (person/thing doing the action) is the subject of the
sentence.

For example:

A dog.

The dog bit the mailman.

Now, in the passive voice, the agent is either not known or is less important.

For example:

A mailman.

The mailman was bitten.

(The agent is not known or not specified.)

The mailman was bitten by the dog.

(The agent, "the dog," is less important than the object "the mailman.")

How do we make a passive sentence?

The important factor in creating the passive sentence is the third form of the
verb (also called V3, or past participle).

Regular verbs have the same past participle and simple past form, but irregular
verbs can be different.

For example:

Regular verbs
Verb 1 Verb 2 Verb 3
(First form of the verb) (Second form of the verb) (Third form of the verb)
= base form = simple past form = past participle form

work worked worked

 help helped helped

bake baked baked

Irregular verbs
Verb 1 Verb 2 Verb 3
(First form of the verb) (Second form of the verb) (Third form of the verb)
= base form = simple past form = past participle form

bite bit bitten

draw drew drawn

come came come

Once you know the correct past participle, then the verb BE in the correct form is used to
make the passive.

Examples:

 The mailman is bitten every day.

 The mailman was bitten yesterday.

 The mailman has been bitten today.

 The mailman will be bitten tomorrow.

 The mailman doesn't like to be bitten.

Any tense in English can be used in the passive voice, including the infinitive.

Some real active and passive voice examples

The passive voice is more common in written English and is often avoided in spoken
English.

It is often used in newspapers, and in academic writing and reports.

Examples:

 Taxes to be raised next year. (newspaper headline)

This is the infinitive passive.

 The swimming pool is closed because it is being cleaned. (a notice)

This is the present progressive passive.
  The house was built in 1898.
This is the simple past passive.

 The concert tonight has been canceled because the guitarist is sick.
This is the present perfect passive.

 Your groceries will be delivered this afternoon.

This is the future passive (using will.)
In all of these examples, we either don't know who is performing / performed / will
perform the action, or it isn't important.

Compare the above sentences with the following real examples of the active
voice:
 The government has decided to raise taxes next year.
(The government performed the action.)

 Cleaners are working in this area. Please be careful.

 They are building a house across the road from my office.

(Here, spoken English is avoiding the passive by using "They are" instead. This is
very common.)
 I'm very disappointed they've canceled the concert tonight.

Why use the passive voice?

As we've seen above, the passive voice is often avoided in spoken English, so why
bother?

The passive voice gives a more formal tone to your writing.

It also enables you to speak more neutrally about things, rather than using your own
opinions, for example:
"It is said that . . ."
"It is believed that . . . "
And so forth.

It is also important to understand the passive when you are reading, since if you don't
realize the passive voice is being used, it can lead to misunderstandings of the text.

Exercise A: Active or Passive?

After each picture and description, write whether the sentence is active or passive.

1.

Maggie eats all the delicious ice cream.

This sentence is:_____________.

2.

The strong security guard protects the musicians.

This sentence is:_____________.

3.

The pink flower is picked.

This sentence is:_____________.

4.

Six songs are played by a wonderful guitarist.

This sentence is:_____________.

5.

Liam hugs his bear very tightly.

This sentence is:_____________.

6.
All of the votes are made anonymously.

This sentence is:_____________.

7.

Lots of apples are given to the teacher every week.

This sentence is:_____________.

8.

John takes the last cookie from the jar.

This sentence is:_____________.

9.

Fred loves his dog very much.

This sentence is:_____________.

10.

Some money is stolen from the bank!

This sentence is:_____________.

Exercise B: Complete the Sentence
Look at the pictures. Below them you will see a subject, a verb, and an object. Then
you will see the word "active" or the word "passive." Write a complete sentence to
describe the picture according to the instructions. You can use the simple present
tense in your answers.

1.

Eric / write / emails

PASSIVE

Your sentence:

2.

Melissa / clean / the living room

ACTIVE

Your sentence:

3.

Karen / tell / the story

ACTIVE

Your sentence:

4.

Paul / read / the books

PASSIVE

Your sentence:

5.

Nathan / set / the table

ACTIVE

Your sentence:

6.

The dog / chase / the postal worker

PASSIVE

Your sentence:

7.

Helen / marry / Phil

ACTIVE

Your sentence:

8.

Ivan / do / exercise
ACTIVE

Your sentence:

9.

Rob / hear / the music

PASSIVE

Your sentence:

10.

Vern / put together / the puzzle

PASSIVE

Your sentence:

Exercise C: Which Makes More Sense?

Under each picture, you will see two sentences. One is active, and the other is
passive. Which one makes more sense to describe the picture? Remember to
decide where the focus of the sentence is.

1.

a) A beautiful wooden house is built on the beach. It is lovely!

b) Some person builds a house on the beach.

2.
a) A ring is given to Betty. Rings can be expensive.

b) Greg gives a ring to Betty. They both feel so happy!

3.

a) The bed looks very organized. It is made neatly.

b) Someone makes the bed. That person does a good job.

4.

a) Some cookies are made. Maybe they have chocolate chips.

b) Ted makes some cookies for us. He is happy because he loves to share good
food.

5.

a) The chair is broken. Who did that?

b) Someone breaks the chair. We do not know who that person is.

6.

a) The book is left open under the lamp. It is open to page 124.

b) Some person leaves the book open under the lamp. Then the person walks away.
7.

a) The phone is knocked off the table. Maybe it will fall on the floor.

b) Mr. Ericson knocks the phone off the table. He looks really upset!

8.

a) Eggs are painted every year with bright colors.

b) Harry and Omar paint eggs. They have lots of fun choosing the bright colors.

9.

a) Our car is fixed. It will run much better now.

b) Someone fixes the car. I wonder what the person's name is?

10.

a) A beautiful shoe is left at the dance. The shoe is a mystery for the prince.

b) Someone leaves a shoe at the dance. Then the person goes home.