Grammar: Passive and Active Voice

By:
Yeneneh W.

February 2020
Haramaya University
 1. Voice
A. Definition
 "Voice" refers to the connection between the subject and
the object of a sentence, which is linked through a verb.
 Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts
upon its verb.
 In active forms, the subject of the sentence is the person
or thing that does the action.
Dawit fixes laptops.
 In passive constructions, the subject receives the action.

My car is being repaired by a well-known mechanic.

Our online courses are easily accessed by students around the
world.
 Diagnostic Exercise

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the active or passive voice of

the verb in parentheses. Use the tense indicated.

1. Many movies ________ in Hollywood. (present simple: make)

2. Abebe Balcha _______many movies. (present perfect: make)
3. We ______ a DVD this weekend. (future simple: rent)
4. Jemila _______ beautiful dresses. (present simple: design)
5. The actress _____ a dress that _____by Helen.
(past continuous: wear) (past: design)
6. Several physicians ______ about Ethiopian flights to China.
(present progressive: complain)
7. I ________ Star Wars. (present perfect: never/see)
8. I dislike _______at. (Present participle: stare)
 B. Form
 Both the active voice and the passive voice can be used with
different tenses and with modals.
 The tense of the passive sentence is shown in the verb ‘be’.
Use the past participle with every tense.
 If two verbs in the passive voice are connected with and, do
not repeat ‘be’ .

The Oscar ceremony is televised and seen by millions of people.

 The following recapitulates active and passive forms of all

verb tenses.
 C. Uses
 The active voice focuses on the person who does the action.
1. Haramaya University awards scholarships to several foreign
students every year.
2. We will prepare the report, and Gemechu will proofread it.

 The passive voice focuses on the receiver or the result of the

action.
1. Several foreign students are awarded a scholarship by Haramaya
University.
2. The report will be written by us, and it will be proofread by
Gemechu
D. When to use active and passive voice in writing
 Many are also unsure about when to use these
grammatical voices in academic writing.

 So, which is better? The short answer is neither: Both

active and passive voice sentences have a role to play in
formal writing. The key is knowing when to use them.

 Thus, in writing, always consider whether you should

use the passive or active voice. It will depend on what
you want to convey.
 i. When to use active voice?

 In scientific writing, overuse of passive voice in long and

complicated sentences can cause readers to lose interest or to
become confused.
 Sentences in active voice are generally - though not always -
clearer and more direct than those in passive voice. Look at the
following sentence:
Research has been done to discredit this theory.
 This sentence is vague; readers do not know who has carried out
the study to disprove the theory. Hence, it should be rewritten in
the active voice. Using the active construction in sentences of this
kind helps you to make your writing clear and concise. The
sentence is below is clearer and more concise than the former:

Halfom (2008) conducted research to discredit this theory.

 ii. When to use the passive voice ?
 In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly
acceptable. Use passive voice:
A. when the actor is unknown:
The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone
Age. (We don’t know who made them.)

B. to emphasize the receiver of the action instead of the

doer:
The experiment was carried out in a pathology laboratory.

C. when you want to sound objective or avoid using the

subject “I”:
Longitudinal survey was employed in this study.
D. when the doer is generally known (general truth):
6, 500 languages are spoken around the world today.
E. when you do not wish to mention the doer of the
action (Passive voice a safety net):

I was given some bad advice.

Not enough has been done to end homelessness.
 E. The Passive Voice Without an Agent
 The passive voice is used more frequently without an agent
than with an agent. Below are the contexts in which we do
not need to mention the agent:

A. The passive voice is used when it is not important to

mention who performed the action.
The winners’ names are placed in envelopes.

B. The passive voice is used when we do not know the agent

My cell-phone has been stolen.

C. The passive voice is used when the agent is and doesn’t

need to be mentioned.
Oscar night has been televised since 1953.
 F. The Passive Voice with an Agent
A. When the sentence has a strong agent, we can use
either the active or the passive voice.

This year’s Nobel Prize has been won by Abiy Ahmed.

B. Sometimes the passive voice is used to continue with

the same subject of the preceding sentence.

The first Oscar ceremony took place in 1929. It was attended by

250 people.
 G. Participles Used as Adjectives
 A present participle is verb + -ing. A past participle is the
third form of the verb (usually -ed or -en).
 Both present participles and past participles can be used as
adjectives.
 In these examples, a present participle is used as an adjective:
1. The woman wearing a white T-shirt has won the beauty
contest.
2. We saw an entertaining movie.

 In these examples, a past participle is used as an adjective.

1. The report proofread by an experienced editor has been sent
to higher officials.
2. What is in the sealed envelope?
 H. Linking Verbs
 Linking verbs are neither active nor passive. They simply
express state of being, possession and change over time.
 The linking verbs include the following:
 The verb to be (in its various forms, e.g., am, are, is, was, were, will
be, has been, have been).
 The "sense" verbs (e.g., to feel, to look, to smell, to taste,
to sound).
 The "status" verbs (e.g., to appear, to become, to
continue, to grow, to seem, to turn).
 Miscellaneous exercise
Directions: Fill in the blanks with the correct tense and passive
or active form of the verb in parentheses.
_____ (animate) movies have changed a lot over the last 100
years. Winsor McCay _____ (consider) the father of animation.
In the early 1900s, McCay ____ (animate) his films by himself.
He ____ (draw) every picture separately and had them
photographed, one at a time. Hundreds of photographs _____
(need) to make a one-minute film. Sometimes it would take
him more than a year to make a five-minute cartoon.
In 1914, the development of celluloid (a transparent material)
____ (make) animation easier. Instead of drawing each picture
separately, the animator could make a drawing of the
background, which ____ (remain) motionless, while only the
characters _____ (move).
Walt Disney ____ (take) animation to a new level. He ______
(create) Mickey Mouse, ____ (add) sound and music to his
movies, and ____ (produce) the first full-length animated film,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Many people think he was a
great cartoonist, but he wasn’t. Instead, he was a great story
editor and clever businessman who had other artists do most of
the drawings.
Today most animated films _____(not draw) by hand. The
animation ____ (do) by computer software. Also special effects
for movies, such as Star Wars, ____ (do) by computer animation.
To create the illusion of movement, cartoonists ___ (put) an
image on the computer and then quickly ___ (replace) it with a
similar image with a small change. While this technique is
similar to hand-drawn animation, the work ____ (can do) much
faster by computer. In fact, anyone with a home computer and
special software _____ (can create) a simple animation.
 Diagnostic exercise
Directions: Complete the sentences about the past using
the past simple or past perfect form of in parentheses.
1. I (recognise) _____ him because I (see) ____him
several times before.
2. He (already eat) _____by the time we (arrive) ______
3. I (work) ___ there for 6 months before anybody
(speak)___to me.
4. When we (get) ___home we (find out) ___that we (be
burgled) _____
5. Philip (is not) _____ at the party because he (break)
____ his leg playing football the day before.