Introduction: Active And Passive Voice

• An action of a subject in relation to an object is expressed in two ways called voices.
• Voice can be categorized into two broad categories Active Voice and Passive Voice.
• The structure of a sentence and its sequence of subject and object is reversed when converted from Active voice to Passive voice or vice versa, but its meaning remains the same.
• The form of the verb also changes when a sentence I converted from active to Passive Voice or vice versa.

For Example:

• Active Voice: Subhendu ate an apple.             
• Passive Voice: An apple was eaten by Subhendu 

Active Voice

• In Active Voice the subject acts upon the object, i.e. the subject performs the action
• A sentence in Active Voice has Subject + Verb + Object.

For Example:

1. Subhendu ate an Apple.
   Subject: Subhendu              
   Verb: Ate
   Object: Apple  
2. He bought a new car.       
3. Mina drinks plenty of water
4. Shweta knows Meenal
5. Kashish wrote a letter.      
6. Sita cleaned the room.
7. I gave her a beautiful dress for her birthday.

A sentence in Passive Voice has Object + Verb + Subject and uses the past participle form of the verb.

For Example:

• A new car was bought by him.                                                   
• Plenty of water is drunk by Mina.
• Meenal is known to Shweta.                                                       
• A letter was written by Kashish.
• The room was cleaned by Simon.                     
• She was given a beautiful dress for her birthday.

Rules to change Active voice to Passive voice

• The subject will shift to the place of object and object will shift to the place of the subject.

For Example:

1. Active Voice: He bought a new car.          
2. Passive Voice: A new car was bought by him.
3. Active Voice: He bought a new car.         
4. Passive Voice: A new car was bought by him.

• A sentence in Passive Voice uses the past participle form of the verb.

1. Active Voice: Subhendu ate an apple.        
2. Passive Voice: An apple was eaten by Subhendu.

• ‘With’ or ‘to’ can also be used before subject in Passive Voice instead of ‘by’ in some cases depending upon the subject of the sentence.

1. Active Voice: I know Meenal.                             .
2. Passive Voice: Meenal is known to me.

• A form of the auxiliary verb is added to the main verb to change the form of the main verb.

1. Active Voice: He bought a new car.     
2. Passive Voice: A new car was bought by him

• Some other examples of sentences in Passive Voice showing the addition of appropriate form of the auxiliary verb to the main verb to change the form of the main verb are as follows:

• The dinner was being served.                 
• She might have been invited for the annual function.
•  The floor has been cleaned.

Rules to change Passive voice to Active voice

• Identify the doer of the action and make it the subject of the sentence.
• Maintain the proper subject-verb agreement.

For Example:

• The floor is cleaned by the sweeper. (Passive Voice)
• The Sweeper cleans the floor. (Active Voice)

Here main verb, “clean” becomes “cleans.” Both the sentences are in present tense.

• An apple was eaten by Subhendu. (Passive Voice)
• Subhendu ate an apple. (Active Voice)