VOICES

Voice tells us whether the subject in a sentence is the doer of the action or
the action is being acted upon the subject.
There are two types of Voice: Active voice and Passive Voice.
If the subject is doing the action in a sentence, it is in active voice.
Examples: a) My mother cooks food.
b) The driver drives the car.
If the action is being acted upon the subject in a sentence, it is in passive
voice.
Examples: a) Food is cooked by my mother.
b) The car is driven by the driver.
Voice of a sentence can be changed only if there is an object. So, the
sentences with transitive verb (also ditransitive verb) can be changed in
passive voice.
NOTE: Transitive verbs can take an object to make a complete sense
whereas intransitive verb do not take an object.
Examples: Raj writes an essay. (Transitive)
Birds fly in the sky. (Intransitive)
DITRANSITIVE VERB: when a verb in a sentence can take two objects
(direct and indirect objects), it is called as ditransitive verb.
Example: Rashid gave a speech to the audience.

KARISHMA
Here ‘a speech’ is direct object and ‘the audience’ is indirect object.
INTRANSITIVE VERB CANNOT BE CHANGED INTO PASSIVE
FORM.
RULES FOR CHANGING ACTIVE INTO PASSIVE VOICE
1. The subject of the Active Voice becomes the object of the Passive
Voice.
2. The object of the Active Voice becomes the subject of the Passive
Voice.
3. The tense of the Active Voice and Passive Voice remains the same in
the process of the change of voice. Only the sentence construction
changes the form.
4. The ditransitive verb in the active voice retains one object in the
passive voice.
5. The Past Participle is used in all tenses in the passive construction.
6. The agent or doer is generally preceded by the preposition ‘by’ in the
passive voice.
7. The case of pronoun is changed according to its position in the
sentence.

RULES FOR THE CHANGE OF PRONOUNS

PRONOUNS ARE CHANGED IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

ACTIVE VOICE – PASSIVE VOICE -

(SUBJECTIVE CASE (OBJECTIVE CASE)
I Changes ME
into
WE Changes US
into
KARISHMA
 YOU Changes YOU
into
HE Changes HIM
into
SHE Changes HER
into
IT Changes IT
into
THEY Changes THEM
into

RULES FOR THE CHANGE OF TENSES

PRESENT PAST TENSE FUTURE TENSE

TENSE
INDEFINI S+V1+s/es+O S+V2+O S+shall/will+V1+
TE – A O
O+is/am/are+V O+was/were+V3 O+shall/will+be+
P 3+by+ +by+ V3+by+
S or its S or its objectiveS or its objective
objective case case case
CONTIN S+is/am/are+V S+was/were+V3 S+shall/will+be+
UOUS – A 3+O +O V3+O
O+is/am/are+be O+was/were+bei NO PASSIVE
P ing+V3 ng+V3+
+by+S or its by+ S or its
objective case objective case
PERFEC S+has/have+V S+had+V3+O S+shall/will+hav
T– A 3+O e+V3+O

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 O+has/have+be O+had O+shall have/will
P en+V3+ been+V3+by+ have+been+V3
by+ S or its S or its objective +by+ S or its
objective case case objective case

EXAMPLES:
TENSE ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
SIMPLE My granny tells a A story is told by my
PRESENT story. granny.
TENSE They do not repair the The fan is not repaired by
fan. them.

PRESENT He is eating an apple. An apple is being eaten

CONTINUOUS The mason is building by him.
TENSE a new wall. A new wall is being built
by the mason.
PRESENT She has called his His mother has been
PERFECT mother. called by her.
TENSE The servants have The house has been
cleaned the house. cleaned by the servants.

SIMPLE The police caught a A thief was caught by the

PAST thief. police.
TENSE She did not know the The truth was not known
truth. by/to her.
PAST My sister was cooking South Indian food was
CONTINUOUS South Indian food. being cooked by my
TENSE Vikas was not singing sister.
a song. A song was not being
sung by Vikas.
PAST The thief had stolen The jewellery had been
PERFECT the jewellery. stolen by the thief.
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 TENSE Mrs. Verma had called The police had been
the police. called by Mrs. Verma.

SIMPLE The government will A salary hike will be

FUTURE announce a salary announced by the
TENSE hike. government.
I shall donate the old The old clothes will be
clothes. donated by me.
FUTURE She will have cooked The meal will have been
PERFECT the meal. cooked by her.
TENSE Shall I not have Will he not have been
rebuked him? rebuked by me?

CHANGE OF VOICE IN IMPERATIVE SENTENCES:

• Active form of Imperative Sentences –
Verb+object, because commands, orders or advice is always
given to second person (you). Therefore, in Imperative
sentences, subject (you) is understood.

• Passive voice form of Imperative Sentences –

In Imperative Sentences, Passive Voice may be in three different
forms.

➢ Let + new object + be/not be+ 3rd form of the verb.

➢ If command/order/advice is given in the sentences, then their
passive voice are formed by – you are advised/you are ordered
to. Here one point is to be remembered that advice/order is
limited to the subject, as –

KARISHMA
 You are ordered to + 1st form of the verb + object.
You are advised to + 1st form of the verb + object.

➢ Imperative Sentences having please/kindly, then – you are

requested to + 1st form of the verb + object, are used.

Examples: 1) Close the doors.

Let the door be closed.
2) Get out of my sight
You are ordered to get out of my sight.
Work hard.
You are advised to work hard.

3) Please bring glass of water.

You are requested to bring a glass of water.

Kindly go through this application.

You are requested to go through this application.

KARISHMA
 CHANGE OF VOICE IN INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

• If the question of active voice is in simple present tense, it

begins with do/does, if its in simple past tense, it begins with
did. In passive voice of simple present tense, we use is/am/are
and V3 while in simple past tense , we use was/were and V3.
➢ Active: Do you read newspapers and magazines?
➢ Passive: Are newspaper and magazines read by you?
➢ Active: Does he watch a movie?
➢ Passive: Is a movie watched by him?
➢ Active: Did you roast the almonds?
➢ Passive: were the almonds roasted by you?

• If the question of active voice is in present continuous tense, it

begins with is/am/are, if it is in past continuous tense, it begins
with was/were. In passive voice of present continuous tense, we
use is/am/are, by and V3 while in past continuous tense, we use
was/were by and V3.
➢ Active: Am I washing the car?
➢ Passive: Is the car washed by me?
➢ Active: Are you playing cricket?
➢ Passive: Is cricket being played by you?
➢ Active: Was he answering the question?
➢ Passive: Were the questions being answered by him?

• If the question of active voice is in present perfect tense, it

begins has/have, if it is in past perfect tense, it begins with had.

KARISHMA
 In passive voice of present perfect tense, we use has/have and
V3 while in past perfect tense, we use had and V3.
➢ Active: Have you completed your assignment?
➢ Passive: Has your assignment been completed by you?
➢ Active: Had they posted the letter before?
➢ Passive: Had the letter been posted by them before?

• If the question of active voice begins with modal auxiliaries, the

form of the passive voice will include modal auxiliary, be and
V3.
➢ Active: Will Vishal take medicines on time?
➢ Passive: Will medicines be taken on time by Vishal?
➢ Active: May I take your pencil?
➢ Passive: May your pencil be taken by me?

Wh – WORD QUESTIONS
If the wh – word in a question is followed by do and does, then the
form of the verb in the passive voice will be is/am/are and V3. If the
active voice is in simple tense, the passive voice will be was/were and
V3. Who changes into by whom and whom changes into who.
➢ Active: Who has parked the car here?
➢ Passive: By whom has the car been parked here?
➢ Active: Whom do you want?
➢ Passive: Who is wanted by you?
➢ Active: Why did she punish you?
➢ Passive: Why were you punished by her?
KARISHMA
 ➢ Active: When will you return the money?
➢ Passive: When will the money be returned by you?

PASSIVE OF MODAL AUXILIARIES

• Active Voice structure of Modal Auxiliaries.
Subject + Modal Auxiliary +main verb +object.

➢ When passive voice of modals are formed, then ‘be’ is used after
modals and 3rd form of the verb is used after ‘be’. Other rules
will be same as usual, as -

ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE

can do can be done

could do could be done
may take may be taken
might take might be taken
would consider would be considered
should consider should be considered
ought to write ought to be written
need not do need not be done

• Passive Voice structure of Modal Auxiliaries.

Modal Auxiliary + Perfect Infinitive
Passive Voice – Modal Auxiliary + have + been + 3rd form of the
verb.

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 ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE

can have done can have been done

might have taken might have been taken
ought to have seen ought to have been seen

Examples: 1) He could do this work when he was young.

This work could be done by him when he was young.

2) He might have taken the wrong turn.

The wrong turn might have been taken by him.

QUASI PASSIVE VERBS

Some verbs have a passive meaning though they retain the active
form. They are changed into passive by a change in their adjective
complements, as –
➢ Active: Sugar tastes sweet. Adjective complement
➢ Passive: Sugar is sweet when (it is) tasted.
➢ Active: Rice sells cheap.
➢ Passive: Rice is cheap when it is sold.

PASSIVE VOICE WHERE ‘by’ IS NOT USED

In passive voice, ‘by’ is not use with the following verbs, but other
prepositions is used, as –

KARISHMA
marry, know – to : surprise, alarm, annoy, vex, shock – at
interest, contain – in : disgust, please, displease, satisfy, dissatisfy,
charge, line,
offend – with (a person), offend – with (a
thing)

Examples:
➢ Active: I know him.
➢ Passive: He is known to me.
➢ Active: Your behaviour annoys me.
➢ Passive: I am annoyed at your behaviour.

PASSIVE VOICE OF TWO OBJECTS OF VERBS

Some verbs have two objects – Direct Object and Indirect Object. Direct
Object denotes inanimate things, whereas Indirect Object denotes
animated beings. Passive Voice may be formed by taking any of the two
objects but the structure of the sentence will be different, as –
He gave me a pen.
D.O. A pen (Inanimate thing)
I.O. Me (Animate thing)

Passive Voice with D.O. as subject : A pen was given to me by

him.

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Passive Voice with I.O. as subject :I was given a pen by him.

NOTE: Here one point is to be remembered – when Direct Object is

treated as subject, 3rd form of verb is used and to/of/for is added in
between the indirect object.
➢ Active: The officer granted the soldier one month’s leave.
➢ Passive: The soldier was granted one month’s leave by the officer.
OR
➢ Passive: one month’s leave was granted to the soldier by the
officer.
➢ Active: He sent me a gift.
➢ Passive: I was sent a gift by him. OR
➢ Passive: A gift was sent for me by him.

WHEN USE OF THE AGENT ‘BY’ IS SUPERFLUOUS.

We often make a superfluous use of the agent (doer of the action),
“subject” with ‘by’ in the Passive Voice. The use of ‘by’ is superfluous
when the interest of the speaker is not in the active subject, but in
predicate.
➢ Active: People speak English all over the world.
➢ Passive: English is spoken all over the world.

KARISHMA
In this sentence, ‘People’ (subject) is superfluous therefore there is no
need of ‘by people’ in Passive form.
Such sentences in which importance is given to action, then in passive
voice ‘by’ along with agent is not used.

PASSIVE VOICE OF INFINITIVE VERBS

• When Present Infinitive is changed into Passive Voice, then – to +be+
3rd form of the verb, are used, as-
➢ Active: you will have to do it.
➢ Passive: it will have to be done. (by you)

• When Infinitive is changed into Passive Voice, then main verb is not
changed, as –
➢ Active: I expect to bring her round.
➢ Passive: I expect her to be brought round.

• The sentences having ‘It is time to’ are changed into following ways,
as –
➢ Active: It is time to close the shop.
➢ Passive: It is time for the shop to be closed.

PASSIVE OF SENTENCES WITH PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

There are some verbs which give their full meaning with Preposition/
Adverbial particles. These verbs when change into passive voice, take
Preposition/Adverbial particle together. Preposition/ Adverbial particle
cannot be omitted, as –
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look after, look into, speak to, act upon, agreed to, knock at, listen to,
laugh at, run over, object to, wonder at, etc.
✓ Active Voice : subject + verb + Prepositional/adverbial particle +
object
✓ Passive Voice :subject (new) + helping verb +3rd form of the verb +
Prepositional/adverbial particle + by object (new).
Examples:
➢ Active: a bus ran over a cyclist.
➢ Passive: A cyclist was run over by a bus.
➢ Active: Why are you laughing at the poor beggar?
➢ Passive: Why is the poor beggar being laughed at by you?

WHEN ‘TO’ IS USED IN PASSIVE VOICE

Some verbs do not take the preposition ‘To’ in Active voice. ‘To’ is added
after main verb and before Infinitive verb.
Examples:
➢ Active: I made him go.
➢ Passive: He was made to go.
➢ Active: My father made me cut my hair.
➢ Passive: I was made to cut my hair.

KARISHMA