1.
ACTIVE VS PASSIVE

2.
English Grammar
� In English grammar, verbs have five properties:
voice, mood, tense, person, and number; here,
we are concerned with voice. The two
grammatical voices are active and passive.

3.
Active voice
� When the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s action, we say that the
sentence is in the active voice. Sentences in the active voice have a
strong, direct, and clear tone.
� Active voice examples
Monkeys adore bananas.
The cashier counted the money.
The dog chased the cat.
� All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb,
and object.

4.
Passive Voice
� A sentence is in the passive voice, on the other hand, when the subject is
acted on by the verb. The passive voice is always constructed with a
conjugated form of to be plus the verb’s past participle. Doing this usually
generates a preposition as well. That sounds much more complicated than
it is—passive voice is actually quite easy to detect.
� Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action.
� Passive voice examples
Bananas are adored by monkeys.
The money was counted by the cashier.
The cat was chased by the dog.

5.
Passive Voice
Passive voice is preferable when:
1. Nobody knows who was responsible: “A fire was started.”
2. Nobody cares who was responsible: “Shrubs were planted.”
3. You don’t know, you don’t care, but you know it happened, so
you’re being deliberately vague: “The law was passed in 1935.”
4. What you’re saying is always true regardless of who or what does it:
“Rules were made to be broken.”
5. The thing that was acted on is more important than what caused it
to happen: “The road was built in 100 AD.”
6. You are writing in a genre that generally requires the passive voice.
This often applies to scientific papers, usually in the “materials and
methods” section: “100 plants were subjected to CO2 enrichment.”

6.
When to use active and passive voice?
� Using the active voice conveys a strong, clear tone and the passive voice is
subtler and weaker. Here’s some good advice: don’t use the passive voice
just because you think it sounds a bit fancier than the active voice.
� That said, there are times the passive voice is useful and called for. Take
“The squirrel was chased by the dog,” for example. That sentence
construction would be helpful if the squirrel were the focus of your writing
and not the dog.
� A good rule of thumb is to try to put the majority of your sentences in the
active voice, unless you truly can’t write your sentence in any other way.

7.
Activity:
Identify the voice of the sentence.
1. Harry ate six shrimp at dinner.
2. The flat tire was changed by Sue.
3. We are going to watch a movie tonight.
4. The students' questions are always answered by the teacher.
5. I will clean the house every Saturday.
6. The two kings are signing the treaty.
7. The whole suburb was destroyed by a forest fire.
8. The wedding planner is making all the reservations.
9. The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
10.Money was generously donated to the homeless shelter by Larry.

8.
Answer key
1. Active - Harry ate six shrimp at dinner.
2. Passive - The flat tire was changed by Sue.
3. Active - We are going to watch a movie tonight.
4. Passive - The students' questions are always answered by the teacher.
5. Active - I will clean the house every Saturday.
6. Active - The two kings are signing the treaty.
7. Passive - The whole suburb was destroyed by a forest fire.
8. Active - The wedding planner is making all the reservations.
9. Passive - The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
10.Passive - Money was generously donated to the homeless shelter by Larry.

9.
Activity:
Transform the sentence to it’s opposite
voice.
1. Harry ate six shrimp at dinner.
2. The flat tire was changed by Sue.
3. We are going to watch a movie tonight.
4. The students' questions are always answered by the teacher.
5. I will clean the house every Saturday.
6. The two kings are signing the treaty.
7. The whole suburb was destroyed by a forest fire.
8. The wedding planner is making all the reservations.
9. The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
10.Money was generously donated to the homeless shelter by Larry.

10.
Answer key:
1. At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry.
2. Sue changed the flat tire.
3. A movie is going to be watched by us tonight.
4. The teacher always answers the students' questions.
5. The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
6. The treaty is being signed by the two kings.
7. A forest fire destroyed the whole suburb.
8. All the reservations are being made by the wedding planner.
9. I will clean the house every Saturday.
10.Larry generously donated money to the homeless shelter.

11.
References:
� https://www.grammarly.com/blog/active-vs-passive-voice/
� https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-active-and-passive-
voice.html
� https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/09/14/102274_how-to-identify-passive-
voice.html