 Voice:

There are two special forms of verbs called voice.

1. Active voice
2. Passive voice
The active voice is normal voice. This is the voice we
use most of the time. In active voice object receives
the action of the verb.

Subject verb object

Cats eat fish.
 Passive Voice:
Passive voice is less common then the active voice. In
passive voice the subject receives the action.

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of

the passive verb.
Subject verb object
Fish are eaten by cats.

voice subject verb object

active Everybody drinks Water.
passive Water is drunk by
everybody.
 Voiceis the way in which a speaker or writer
structures a particular idea.

 Thevoice of a verb refers to the form of the

verb used in relation to what the subject is
doing.

 Youcan voice or say the same idea in many

different ways.
 Inactive voice the subject of the sentence
acts.

 Inother words the subject of the sentence

performs an action.

 Active voice:
subject verb Object
The boy kicked The ball.
 The form of the verb used when the subject is the
doer of the action.

 Inactive form the thing doing the action is the

subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the
action is the object.

Sara washes the dishes.

Subject verb Object
(doing the action) (receiving the
action)
 The passive voice is formed when the subject
of the sentence is acted upon.

 One clue that the subject is not doing

anything in the sentence. It’s not taking an
action, it’s passive. It’s not taking a direct
action.
Subject verb object
The ball was kicked by the boy.
 The form of the verb used when the subject is
being acted upon rather than doing something.

 Inpassive voice the thing receiving the action is the

subject of the sentence and the thing doing the
action is optionally included near the end of the
sentence.

 Inpassive voice, the object of the sentence

becomes the subject, although it does nothing.
Rather it’s just the recipient of the action.

 Hence the focus of the sentence changes from who

did it to what happened.
 Writingin active voice means constructing
sentences where the subject acts

I threw the ball.

 You are making noise.
 Ben will watch movie.

 Ineach of these sentences the subject (I, You

and Ben respectively) performs the action of
the verb.
 Activesentences are punchy, direct and make it
clear who’s doing what.

 Sentences in active voice are also less wordy than

those in the passive voice.
1.Passive form can be used when you do not
know who is doing the action or if you do not
want to mention who is doing the action.

 The dishes are washed (by Jean).

2. When the agent of action is unknown

My wallet was stolen last night.

(we don’t know who stole the wallet.)
3. When the agent is unimportant

The new student’s Centre was completed last week.

(the people who built the centre are unnecessary
information for the meaning of the sentence.)

4. When the agent of action is obvious from the

context.

I was born in March.

5. To emphasize (put importance on) the recipient

(receiver) of the action.
6. Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action.
It is not important or not known, however, who or what is
performing the action.

My bike was stolen.

(in the example above, the focus is on the fact that the
bike was stolen. However, the doer of the action is
unknown.)

7. Sometimes a statement in passive voice is more polite

than the active voice.

A mistake was made.

(in this case focus is on the fact that a mistake was
made, but it does not blame anyone, eg. You have made
a mistake.)
 8. Passive voice sounds objective.

 9. Using I or we sounds unprofessional.

 10. Passive emphasizes results.

 11.
passive voice is used while writing lab reports,
and scientific research papers, most notably in
materials and methods section.
 The transformation of an active sentence
into a passive sentence is a three step
process.

 1.
Move the object of the sentence to the
subject position.

 2.
change the verb to passive form (two
parts).

 3.move the subject of the active sentence

to the object position preceded by the
preposition ‘by’ (optional)
 Example:

 Dickens wrote Pickwick Papers.

 Pickwick Papers was written by Dickens.

 While changing an active sentence into passive

voice,
 i. We put the verb to be in the same tense as the
verb in the active sentence.
 Ii. Use the past participle of the verb in active
sentence.
I. Object becomes the subject, and the
subject becomes object.

Active: The boy kicked the ball.

Passive: The ball was kicked by the boy.

ii. We use the third form of the verb instead

of the first or second form. Furthermore, we
add ‘by’ after that (third form of the verb).
I ------------------------- Me
 We--------------------- Us
 He---------------------- Him
 She -------------------- Her
 They ------------------- Them

Rest of the pronouns remain the same.

 While changing a passive sentence to active
sentence
 1. Subject is changed to object, and object is
changed to subject.

 The word ‘by’ is removed.

 Me ------------------------ I

 Him ---------------------- He

 Her --------------------- She

 Them -------------------- They

 Rest of the pronouns remain the same.

 (A).From active to passive:
 Changes:
 Other than the changes mentioned earlier;

 1.
is and am are used as helping verbs before
the third form of the verb.

 2.In interrogative and negative sentences,

‘do’ or ‘does’ is omitted and instead is/ am/
are is used.
I eat apples.
 Apples are eaten by me.

 She does not tell a lie.

 A lie is not told by her.

 He opens the door.

 The door is opened by him.
 From Passive to Active:
Changes:
 Other than the changes mentioned earlier;
1. Is/ am/ are, are omitted from the
sentence.
2. Other than this ‘by’ is also omitted.
3. First form of the verb is used rather than
the third form.
4. In interrogative sentences do/ does come
at the start of the sentence, whereas, in
negative sentences do/ does not come
between the subject and the first form of the
verb.
 Eggsare boiled by him.
 He boils eggs.

 Isthe moon seen by her.

 Does she see the moon.

 Sweets are not liked by us.

 We do not like sweets.
 From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier;

 1. ‘is being’, ‘am being’ and ‘are being’ is
used as helping verb before the third form of
the verb.

2. Am/ is/ are, are used according to the

subject.
 I am writing a letter.
A letter is being written by me.

She is singing a song.

A song is being sung by her.

He is reading books.
Books are being read by him.
 From Passive to active:
 Other than the changes mentioned earlier
 1. We remove ‘being’ and ‘by’.

 2. We use the present participle instead of the third

form of the verb.

 3. We use is/ am/ are according to the subject.

 4. Is/am/are, is placed before the subject in

interrogative sentence.

 5. In negative sentences ‘not’ is placed between the

helping verb and the present participle.
 Am I being abused by him?
Is he abusing me?

They are not being praised by you.

You are not praising them.

A letter is being written by her.

She is writing a letter.
 (A) From active to passive:
 Other than the changes mentioned earlier
 1. We use has been as helping verb before
the third form of the verb.
 2. We add has/ have according to the
subject.

 Example:
 Shehas eaten sweets.
 Sweets have been eaten by her.
I have caught a bird.
 A bird has been caught by me.

 We have not beaten him.

 He has not been beaten by us.

 Has he knocked my door?

 Has my door been knocked by him?
 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1.
We omit ‘been’ and ‘by’ from the
sentences.

 2.
Has/ have is used before the third form of
the verb according to the subject.
 The letter has been written by her.
 She has written the letter.

 We have been fined by the administration.

 The administration has fined us.

 Has this letter been copied by you?

 Have you copied this letter?

 They have not been cheated by me.

 I have not cheated them.
 From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1.
was or were are used as helping verbs
before the third form of the verb.

 2.The usage of was or were varies according

to the subject.

 3. Did is excluded.
 I bought two pens.
 Two pens were bought by me.

 He met me yesterday.
 I was met by him yesterday.

 She did not bake the cake.

 The cake was not baked by her.

 Did you kill the snake?

 Was the snake killed by you?
 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. Was or were (which shows that the sentence is in the past

indefinite tense) are omitted.

 Furthermore, by is also omitted.

 2. Second form of the verb is used instead of third form.

 3. In interrogative sentences ‘did’ comes before the subject and

instead of second form of the verb, the first form of the verb is
used.

 4. In negative sentences ‘not’ comes between ‘did’ and the first

form of the verb.
 Some meat was cooked by her.
 She cooked some meat.

 Two cups were bought by him.

 He bought two cups.

 The shirts were not selected by them.

 They did not select the shirts.

 Were two flowers plucked by her?

 Did she pluck two flowers?

 Why was I not invited by her?

 Why did she not invite me?
 (a) From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1.
‘was being’ and ‘were being’ are used as
helping verb before the third form of the
verb.

 2.Was or were are used according to the

subject.
 I was reciting the Holy Quran.
 The Holy Quran was being recited by me.

 They were selecting books.

 Books were being selected by them.

 He was not helping me.

 I was not being helped by him.

 Was she writing a letter?

 Was a letter being written by her?

 She was not speaking the truth.

 The truth was not being spoken by her.
 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘was being’ and ‘were being’ (which show the

past continuous tense) is omitted and ‘by’ is also
omitted.
 2. The verb becomes the present participle
instead of the past participle.
3. Was or were are used according to the subject.
4. In interrogative sentences was or were come
before the subject, and in negative sentences
‘not’ comes between the present participle and
was/ were.
 Birds were being kept by him.
 He was keeping birds.

 The letter was being posted by me.

 I was posting the letter.

 A telegram was not being sent by him.

 He was not sending a telegram.

 Were the thieves being chased by them?

 Were they chasing the thieves?

 The dogs were not being chained by them.

 They were not chaining the dogs.


 From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘had been’ is used as helping verb before

the third form of the verb.
 2. In interrogative sentences, ‘had’ is used
before the subject.
 3. In negative sentences ‘not’ comes
between ‘had’ and ‘been.’
 She had lost a ticket.
 A ticket had been lost by her.

 He had stolen my pen.

 My pen had been stolen by him.

 Had I not spoken the truth?

 Had the truth not been spoken by me?

She had not cooked the meal.

The meal had not been cooked by her.

Had they burnt those papers?

Had those papers been burnt by them?

 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘been’ and ‘by’ are omitted from the
sentences.
 From ‘had been’ which shows that the
sentence is in Past perfect tense.
 2. In interrogative sentences ‘had’ comes
before the subject.
 3. In negative sentence ‘not’ comes between
had and the past participle.
 The bell had been rung by her.
 She had rung the bell.

 The wallet had been stolen by him.

 He had stolen the wallet.

 She had not been pardoned by her mother.

 Her mother had not pardoned her.

 Had the snake been killed by them?

 Had they killed the snake?
 From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘will be’ is used as helping verb before the
third form of the verb.
 2. in interrogative sentences ‘will’ comes
before the subject.
 3. In negative sentences ‘not’ comes
between ‘will’ and ‘be.’
 I will help him.
 He will be helped by me.

 He will cancel the paper.

 The paper will be cancelled by him.

 She will not type the letter.

 The letter will not be typed by her.

 Will she take tea?

 Will tea be taken by her?
 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘be’ is omitted from will be (which shows that

the sentence is in future indefinite tense). ‘By’
is also omitted.
 2. In interrogative sentences ‘will’ comes before
the subject.
 3. The third form of the verb is changed to the
first form.
 4. In negative sentences ‘not’ comes after will.
 He will be punished by me.
 I will punish him.

 We will be guided by them.

 They will guide us.im?

 He will not be sentenced to death by the judge.

 The judge will not sentence him to death.

 Will she be married by him?

 Will he marry her?

 Will this room be occupied by us?

 Will we occupy this room?


 From active to passive:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. Before the third form of the verb ‘will
have been’ is used as helping verb.

 2.
In interrogative sentences ‘will’ comes
before the subject.

 3.
In negative sentences ’not’ comes
between ‘will’ and the subject.
 I will have won a prize.
 A prize will have been won by me.

 He will have finished that book.

 That book will have been finished by him.

Will you have cheated us?

Will we have been cheated by you?

She will not have forgiven me.

I will not have forgiven by her.
 From passive to active:

 Other than the changes mentioned earlier

 1. ‘been’ and ‘by’ are omitted from ‘will
have been’ (which shows the future perfect
tense.)
 2. ‘will have’ is used before the third form of
the verb.
 3. In interrogative sentences ‘will’ will come
before the subject.
 4. In negative sentences ‘not’ comes
between have and will.
 This letter will have been written by him.
 He will have written this letter.

 A new pen will have been bought by me.

 I will have bought a new pen.

 The train will not have been caught by her.

 She will not have caught by her.

 Will a tree have been planted by you?

 Will you have planted a tree?