Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice :When the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action.

Passive Voice :When the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action.

	Active Voice	Passive Voice
1.	Sheena cleans the floor everyday.	The floor is cleaned by Sheena everyday.
2.	The boy is rowing the boat.	The boat is being rowed by the boy.

Always use 3rd form of the verb in passive.

Changes from active to passive voice

• The subject in the active voice becomes the object in the passive voice.
• The object in the active voice becomes the subject in the passive voice.
• The meaning of the sentence does not change when the voice is changed.
• The time of action also does not change.
• The preposition by is used in the passive voice to give complete sense to the sentence.

Tense	Active verb forms	Passive Verb forms
Simple Present	take/takes	is/am/are + taken
Simple Past	took	was/were + taken
Simple future	will/shall take	will/shall + be + taken
Present continuous	is/am/are + taking	is/am/are + being + taken
Past continuous	was/were + taking	was/were + being + taken
Present perfect	has/have + taken	has/have + been + taken

Now read these examples :

	Active Voice	Passive Voice
1.	We keep our classroom tidy.	Our classroom is kept tidy by us.
2.	He is making a card.	A card is being made by him.
3.	I ate the cake.	The cake was eaten by me.
4.	She will arrange all the books.	All the books will be arranged by her.
5.	They will sing a hymm.	A hymm will be sung by them.
6.	Robbers looted the bank yesterday.	The bank was looted yesterday (by robbers).

• We use passive voice when the doer of the action is unknown.
  For example :
  
  • The wooden box was thrown into the river.
• We also use the passive voice when we do not want to mention the doer of the action.
  For example :
  
  • The lamp was broken.
  • The flag was hoisted.

Changing the voice of special sentences

• When we change a command to passive voice, we use let in the passive voice.
  For example :
  
  • Shut the door. (active)
  • Let the door be shut. (passive)
• When in the active voice a preposition follows the verb (break into, look after), the preposition comes immediately after the verb in the passive voice.
  For example :
  
  • Someone broke into the pet shop. (active)
  • The pet shop was broken into. (passive)