Active Passive

Sentences can be Active or Passive. Correspondingly, Verbs are either

Active or Passive in voice. The difference between Active voice and
Passive voice is simple. So far the sentences we have learnt are of Active
Voice wherein Subject performs the Action.
In the Active Voice, there is a straight relationship between the Subject
and Verb - the subject is a Do-er. In other words, the Subject actively
performs the Action; the Object receives the action of the verb; and the
focus is on Subject. e.g. Ram killed Raavan . Subject is Ram, active action
"Killing" is performed by Subject "Ram" and Object "Raavan " receives
the action and got killed. The focus is on Ram.
• In the Passive Voice, the roles of Subject and Object are reversed - the
Subject is NOT a Do-er. In other words, the Subject passively performs
the action and receives the action of the Verb; Object of the active
verb becomes Subject of the passive Verb; and the focus is on Action
(not on the Subject). It is not important (or not known) who performs
the action. e.g. Raavan was killed by Ram. Object of active voice
sentence "Raavan " has become Subject, and main focus is on action
"killed".
Sentence Voice Subject of the sentence Action performed by
Ali is playing cricket. Active Voice Ali Subject
Cricket is being played by Passive Voice Cricket Other than subject
him.
She reads a book. Active Voice She Subject
Book is read by her. Passive Voice Book Other than subject
You have eaten bread. Active Voice You Subject
Bread has been eaten by Passive Voice Bread Other than subject
you.
He is beating them. Active Voice He Subject
They are being beaten by They Other than subject
him.
• In above examples,subject is not performing direct action in passive
voice sentences instead action is being performed by some other.The
sentence in which:
• 1)It is directly stated that action is done by someone other than
subject.
• 2)It is not stated or hidden who has performed action
 Examples
Questions that raise in our minds ‘’By Whom’’
The thesis was written>>>By whom>>>(By Nawaz)
Nawaz wrote the thesis.(Active Voice)
The thesis was written by Nawaz.(Passive Voice)
Newspaper was read.>>>By whom>>>(By me.)
Food is being cooked.>>>By whom>>>(by Rabia.)
Magic was shown>>>By whom>>>(By magician.)
The window has been broken.>>>by whom>>>(By thieves)
Telephone was invented.>>>By whom>>>>(By Graham Bell)
General Rules of Active Voice & Passive Voice

• For changing Active Voice sentence to Passive Voice sentence, Object

is converted to Subject and Subject is converted to Object.
 RULE TO CONVERT OBJECT INTO SUBJECT
Object Word Object Word Becomes A Subject Object Word Object Word Becomes A Subject
Word On Conversion Word On Conversion
Me I Us We
You You Them They
Him He It It
Her She Whom Who

RULE TO CONVERT SUBJECT INTO OBJECT

Subject Word Subject Word Becomes An Object Subject Word
Word On Conversion
I Me We Us
You You They Them
He Him It It
She Her Who Whom
Verb, Forms of Verb and Use of 'By'

• Normally Transitive Verbs are converted to Passive Voice. (The Verbs with
which Objective is used, are Transitive Verbs. The action of the verb passes
over the Object also. Where action of the Verb is limited up to Subject only,
then it is Intransitive Verb. e.g. He makes a table. Action (making) of
Subject (he) passes over to Object (table) also).
Third form of Verb is used in Passive Voice. Helping verbs - 'Is / Are / Am /
Was / Were / Has / Have / Had / Will / Shall' PLUS 'Be / Being / Been' are
used as per the Rule of the Tense.
Normally 'By' is used for the 'Subject of the Active Voice which becomes
Object of the Passive Voice'. There are few verbs with which appropriate
Preposition is used in place of 'By'.
1)When there is no need to know about Subject or Subject is not
known .e.g.

Window was broken yesterday.

New shop was robbed.

2)When an object is to be accorded more importance than verb and/or

Subject e.g.
The pen was gifted by Guruji.
Sheela was given a rose by Charles.
Change to Passive Voice - Tense-wise Rules

Present Indefinite Tense

Present Continuous Tense
Present Perfect Tense
Past Indefinite Tense
Past Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Tense
Future Indefinite Tense
Future Continuous tense
Future Perfect Tense
W-family Words
Imperative Sentence
Sentence Of Modals
Sentence od Infinitives
• Note - The following Tenses cannot be changed into Passive Voice:
• 1. Present perfect continuous tense
2. Past perfect continuous tense
3. Future perfect continuous tense
Passive Voice of Present Indefinite Tense

• Rules of Active and Passive voice (mentioned below) shows that helping verb 'Is/Are/Am'
is used with 3rd form of verb for making Passive Voice of Present Indefinite Tense.
In Active Voice of Present Indefinite Negative and Interrogative sentences, use of
Do/Does is used but for making Passive Voice only helping verbs - 'Is/Are/Am' are used.
Helping Verb in Passive Voice is used as per the Subject of the Passive Voice (Object of
Active voice which becomes Subject of Passive Voice). If the Subject of Passive Voice is
plural, Helping Verb of plurals will be used irrespective of the fact that in Active Voice,
the subject was Singular.
In case of Negative sentence, 'Not' is added after helping verbs and in case of
Interrogative sentence helping verb comes in the starting of the sentence.
TOP
In all types of sentences - Positive, Negative & Interrogative, 3rd form of verb is used in
Passive Voice.
 Present Indefinite Tense
Sentence Type Rule
Affirmative Object + Is/Am/Are + V3 + Subject.
Cricket is played.
Negative Object + Is/Am/Are + Not + V3 + Subject.
Cricket is not played.
Interrogative Is/Am/Are + Object + V3 + By + Subject?
Is cricket played by them?
Interrogative + Is/Am/Are + Object + Not + V3 + By + Subject?
Negative Is cricket not played by them?
Type Of Sentence Rule Of Making Present Indefinite Tense(A.V) Rule Of converting Present Indefinite
Tense To (P.V)

Positive Subject + V1 + s/es + Object. Obj To Sub + Is/Am/Are + V3 + By + Sub

To Obj + Remaining.
Negative Subject + Do/Does + Not + V1 + s/es + Object. Obj To Sub + Is/Am/Are + Not + V3 + By
+ Sub To Obj + Remaining
Interrogative Do/Does + Subject + V1 + Object? Is/Am/Are + Obj To Sub + V3 + By +
Sub To Obj + Remaining?
Active Voice Passive Voice
Do you read English? Is English read by you?
She drives my car. My car is driven by her.
Ali loves his brother. His brother is loved by him.(Ali)
The gardener waters plants everyday. Plants are watered by the gardener everyday.
Teachers do not punish students now-a-days Students are not punished by students now-a-days.
She gives her books to the poor boy. The poor boy is given books by her.
Do you know him? Is he known to you?
Active Voice
He does not like my advice.
Do they require my help in emergency?
He completes the project in time.
She gives food to the beggar.
She gives food to the beggar.
Passive Voice
My advice is not liked by him.
Is my help required by them in emergency?
The project is completed by him in time.
The beggar is given food by her.
The food is given to the beggar by her.
• Please see the last 2 examples. When there are two Objects in the
sentence, we can convert any Object to Subject. For ease, please
convert the Object to Subject, which is coming just after the Verb. Or
you may convert the Object to Subject which you want to emphasize
more.