Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice: Subject + Verb + Object

Passive Voice: Object + Verb + by the Subject

Subject: Doer
Object: Receiver

Rules:
1.When the action is more important than the “doer”, we use the Passive Voice
for emphasis.
Examples:
Active : People sell his records all over the world.
Passive: His records are sold all over the world.

Active : They will serve dinner at 7 O’clock.

Passive: Dinner will be served at 7 O’clock.

2. We use Passive Voice , when we do not know the ‘doer’ of the action.
Examples:
Active : Someone has stolen my camera.
Passive: My camera has been stolen.

Active : Somebody opens the door every evening.

Passive: The doors is opened every evening.

3. We mention the ‘doer’ when it is necessary to complete the sense of the

sentence.
Examples:
Active : John produced and presented the programme.
Passive: The programme was produced and presented by John.

Active : Somerset Maugham wrote the novel.

Passive: The novel was written by Somerset Maugham.

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 Tense Active Voice Passive Voice
Simple present Amy rides the horse. The horse is ridden by
Amy.
Present Continuous Amy is riding the horse. The horse is being ridden
by Amy.
Present Perfect Amy has ridden the horse. The horse has been ridden
by Amy.
Simple Past Amy rode the horse. The horse was ridden by
Amy.
Past Continuous Amy was riding the horse. The horse was being
ridden by Amy.
Past Perfect Amy had ridden the horse. The horse had been
ridden by Amy.

Task 1 : Are these verbs in the active or passive voice, and what tense are they
in? Write active or passive in the middle column and the correct tense
name in the right-hand column.

VERB VOICE TENSE

1. were being fed
2. have shown
3. are playing
4. had been built
5. was wearing
6. were awarded
7. had seen
8. is being picked
9. are allowed
10. will be

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Task 2: Change these sentences from the active voice to the passive voice. Do not
include the subject of the active verb in the passive sentence unless it is
necessary to do so.

1.My grandparents planted this tree.

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2. We do not grow wheat on this farm.

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3. Did anyone tell you what to do?

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4.You can wear it as a scarf or as a hood.

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5. A large black dog was chasing the cat.

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6. Sally and Tom have not invited me to their wedding.

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7.All Alice's friends had signed her get-well card.

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8.l shall give you your test results tomorrow.

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9. We bake the biscuits over the charcoal fire.

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10. The secretary will write the minutes of meeting.

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11. They have discussed the problem for several days.
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12. Somebody has switched on the radio.

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13. They built those blocks of flats in 1973.

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14. They beat our team in the hockey match yesterday.

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15. We often find flies near the rubbish dumps.

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16. Somebody broke into our house last night.

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17. Robert Browning wrote the poem, ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’. He wrote the
poem for the son of his good friend, William Macready.
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18. “Did anyone tell you where to report for work?”

“No, no one told me”.
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19. The earthquake destroyed many buildings and killed many people.
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20. We can find many types of seashells along the seashore. Many people visit
this place during the school holidays.
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Task 3: Change these active sentences to Passive.

1. The Government is planning a new road near my house.

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2. My grandpa built this house in 1976.

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3.Picasso was painting Guernica at that time.

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4. The cleaner has cleaned the office.

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5. He had written three books before 2001.

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Task 4: Identify error in the sentences below and rewrite the corrected answers.

1. He comes from a well-respect family.

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2. Valuable paintings were stole from the art gallery.

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3. The car was badly damage in the accident.

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4. Most teenagers are heavily influence by their peers.
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5. The jewellery she bought was not make of gold.

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6. Our debate team will represents the school at the state level debate
competition.
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7. Emily’s birthday cake baked by Mary.

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8. The meeting will hold in the staff room at 3pm.

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9. The clothes were washing by my maid this morning.

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10. The drumsticks were fry for the party.

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