Rules for Active and passive voice
The placement of the subject, verb, and object determines if a sentence is active or passive.
- Active Voice: subject + verb + object
- Passive Voice: object + to be + past participle verb + subject (optional)
Interchanging the object and subject determines if a sentence is active or passive.
- Active Voice: The dog (subject) jumped over the fence (object).
- Passive Voice: The fence (object) was jumped over by the dog (subject).
The subject does not need to be directly identified when using passive voice.
- Passive Voice: The fire was extinguished in less than an hour.
The verb form can determine if a sentence is active or passive.
- Active Voice: He ate (past tense verb) the entire cake by himself.
- Passive Voice: The entire cake was eaten (past participle) by himself.
Active vs Passive Voice | Difference Between Active and Passive Voice
Active and passive voices are a way of expressing the same sentence. The subject performs the verb’s action in the active voice, and the subject receives the verb’s action in the passive voice. Depending on the circumstances, both the active and passive voices have specific uses and can be utilized to express information better way.
Difference Between Active and Passive Voice