Active and Passive Voice: Understanding the concept of active and passive voice is very much important for

students of all grades at the school level as well as the competitive level. This forms the basis of the foundation of English grammar. So in this article, we discuss the concept of active and passive voice. So before directly jumping to know what is the active and passive voice, it is necessary to what is Voice.

What is Voice of Verb?

The voice of a verb is the verb that expresses whether the subject in the sentence has performed or received the action. For example, in the sentence

1. Ram helps Hari.

2. Hari is helped by Ram.

In the first sentence, the form of the verb shows that the subject does something, that is, the subject has performed or done something. So the verb helps is in said to be the active voice.

In the second sentence, the form of the verb shows that something is done to the subject or the subject has received something. So the verbhelped is said to be the passive voice.

Types of Voice of Verb

There are two types of voice-

 Active Voice

 Passive Voice

Types of Voice of Verb

Active Voice Passive Voice

Definition: A verb is in active voice when its form shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject does something or in other words, is the doer of the action. Hence in an active voice, the subject is the doer. Definition: A verb is said to be a passive voice when its form shows that something is done to the person or thing denoted by the subject. Hence in passive voice, the subject is a passive state, that is, suffers or receives some action.

Examples: Examples:

 Sita loves Savitri.  Savitri is loved by Sita.

 The mason is building the pillar.  The wall is being built by the mason.

 The peon opened the gate.  The gate was opened by the peon.

 Some girls were helping the wounded man.  The wounded man was being helped by some boys.

Rules for Conversion of Active and Passive Voice

The rule for conversion from active voice to passive voice is as follows-

Rule1: First and foremost, identify the subject, verb, and object(S+ V+O) in the sentence to convert to passive voice.

Rule2: Then interchange the object and subject with each other, that is, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

Rule3: Change the base verb in the active sentence into the past participle(third form of the verb) in a passive sentence.

Rule4: The word by will be used before the subject in passive voice.

Rule 5: The pronoun in the sentence will also be changed.

 Active Voice Pronoun Passive Voice Pronoun

I Me

We Us

He Him

She Her

They Them

You You

It It

Rule 6: While conversion use suitable auxiliary verbs.

Active and Passive Voice in Tenses form

The passive voice is formed with the suitable tense of the verb followed by the past participle. Study the table given below-

Tense Active Voice Passive Voice Examples

Active: I eat mangoes

Simple Present Subject + Verb + Object Object + is/am/are + V3 + by Subject

Passive: Mangoes are eaten by me.

Active: Ramesh is calling Neena.

Present Continuous Tense Subject + is/am/are + verb + ing + Object Object + is/am/are + being + V3 + by Subject

Passive: Neena is being called by Ramesh

Active: I have made some cakes.

Present Perfect Tense Subject + have/has + V3 + Object Object + has/have + been + V3 + by Subject

Passive: Some cakes have been made by me.

Active: Preeti stole my clothes.

Simple Past tense Subject + Verb(past tense) + Object Object + was/were + V3 + by Subject

Passive: My clothes were stolen by Preeti

Active: The postman was delivering the letters.

Past Continuous Tense Subject + was/were + Verb + ing+ Object Object + was/were + being + V3 + by Subject

Passive: The letters were being delivered by the postman.

Past Perfect Tense Subject + had + V3 + Object Object + had been + V3 + by subject Active: The girls had eaten all the muffins.
 Passive: All the muffins had been eaten by girls.

Active: We shall finish the whole work by 6 pm.

Simple Future Tense Subject + shall /will +V1 + Object Object + shall/will + be +V3 + by subject

Passive: The whole work will be finished by us by 6 pm

Active: They will have won the football match.

Future Perfect Tense Subject + shall/will + have + V3 + Object Object + shall/will + have been + V3 + by subject

Passive: The football match will have been won by them.

An exception to the rule: No passive Voice formation for the following tenses can be formed, that is, Present Perfect Continuous Tense, Past Perfect Continuous Tense, Future Perfect Continuous Tense, and Future Continuous Tense]
What is Tense in English Grammar?
Tense is a grammatical concept that indicates the time of action or event. Tense provides temporal information and enables us to express actions that have happened in the past, are happening in the present, or will happen in the future. Tenses, in English Grammar , is the form of the verb which shows the time when a specific event has happened or is going to happen. Basically, tense denotes the characteristics of the verb in a sentence.
Why Tenses are Important to Learn?
In the English language, tenses are considered the most important and integral part of speech . Without tenses, every sentence is illogical. In order to frame a sentence and convey the information clearly, we need to learn the correct use of tenses in a sentence. Tenses help us to communicate effectively and express the context of the information.
Types of Tenses in English Grammar
There are three tenses in English grammar:
• Present tense
• Past tense
• Future tense
Further, all three tenses have four kinds:
• Simple or indefinite
• Continuous
• Perfect
• Perfect Continuous
Past tense

The past tense is used to describe an activity or an event that has happened in the past or a past state of being and needs to include a time marker for when the event or action took place.

Structural formula:

Subject + verb (2nd form) + object.

Examples:

 We met yesterday.

 He bought a new laptop last week.

Present tense

The simple present tense or present tense is one of the most basic tenses in English. We use present tense to talk about something that is currently going on, something that is habitually performed, or a state that generally or currently exists.

Structural formula:

Subject + verb (s/es) + object.

Examples:

 She lives in Spain.

 Bob drives a taxi.

Future tense

The future tense is a verb tense used to describe an event or action that has not yet happened and is expected to happen in the future. Structural formula, Subject + shall/will+ verb (s/es) + object.

Example:

 He will be here soon.

What are the subtypes of tenses?

Past continuous tense

The past continuous tense is used to describe events or actions that have already occurred in the past. It's employed to describe any action which has happened in the past.

Structural formula:

Subject + helping verb (was/were) + verb (ing) + object.

Examples:

 I was watching TV.

 We were sleeping.

 She wasn’t eating her lunch.

Past perfect tense

The past perfect tense is used to describe an event that occurred before a completed action in the past.

Structural formula:

Subject + had + verb (ed) + object.

Examples:

 He had gone when she became ill.

 She had not lived in New York.

 They had not been married long when I was born.

Past perfect continuous tense

The past perfect continuous tense represents any action or event that started in the past and sometimes continued into another action or another time.

Structural formula:

Subject + had been + Verb (ing) + object (optional) + time of action.

Examples:

 We had been playing games for 6 hours when Dad came home.

 She had been reading magazines for 1 month before she decided to apply for the job.

 Had she been washing dishes all day?

Present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used to talk about the ongoing actions, events, or conditions that are still not finished.

Structural formula:

Subject + helping verb (is / am/ are) + main verb (ing) + object.

Examples:

 She is playing basketball.

 Birds are flying in the sky.

 I’m learning English.

Present perfect tense

The present perfect tense is used to describe a situation or event that has already occurred but has immediate ramifications. The present perfect tense can be used to describe experiences, and situations that occurred in the past but still have an influence on the present. We don't use it with time markers.

Structural formula:

Subject + helping verb (have/has) + verb (ed) + object.

Examples:

 She has not finished her work yet.

 I have seen that movie twice.

 We have visited LA several times.

Present perfect continuous tense

The present perfect continuous tense shows a situation that has started in the past and continues in the present.

Structural formula:

Subject + helping verb (have/has) + been + verb (ing) + object (optional) + since / for + time duration + object.

Examples:

 I have been learning English for many years.

 He has been working here since 2010.

 We have been saving money.

Future continuous tense

The future continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action that will occur or occur in the future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will be + verb (ing) + object.

Example:

 He will be coming to visit us next week.

 She will be watching TV.

 He will be writing a letter to Mary.

Future perfect tense

The future perfect is used to describe an action that will be completed between now and a certain point in the future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will + have + verb (3rd form) + object.

Examples:

 They will have finished the film before we get home.

 She will have cleaned the house by 9pm.

Future perfect continuous tense

We use the future perfect continuous to focus on the duration of an action before a specific time in the future.

Structural formula:

Subject + shall/will + have been + verb (ing) + object (optional) + time instant.

Examples:

 He will have been studying hard for 2 weeks before the exam.

 By the time the alarm goes off, we will have been sleeping for 8 hours.