To get triumph in Competitive Exams candidates need to score well in every section of the exam paper. There are certain topics which are common in every Competitive Exam. A candidate must be having a good command on such topics to get a good rank.

English has now been an essential part of every competitive exam and grammar is its core. In this blog, we will talk about Active and Passive Voice.

In Active Voice, a sentence emphasizes subject performing an action while in Passive Voice sentence emphasizes the action or the object of the sentence.

To know how a sentence is converted in Passive voice from Active voice, we need to go through certain rules with examples based on it.

 

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for All Tenses

 

Here, we are listing out the Active and Passive Voice Rules for all tenses. You will come to know how an auxiliary verb is used to change a sentence from Active to Passive voice.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Simple Tense

 

Here in this table, we are elaborating Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples for Present Simple.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb – is/am/are)

Subject + V1+s/es+ object

Object+ is/am/are+ V3+ by + subject

Subject + Do/does+ not + V1 + Object

Object + is/am/are+ not + V3+ by Subject

Does+ Subject+ V1+Object+?

Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

 

Active and Passive Voice Example with Answers of Present Simple Tense

 

Active: He reads a novel.

Passive: A novel is read.

 

Active: He does not cook food.

Passive: Food is not cooked by him.

 

Active: Does he purchase books?

Passive: Are books purchased by him?

 

Active: They grow plants.

Passive: Plants are grown by them.

 

Active: She teaches me.

Passive: I am taught by her.

 

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Continuous Tense

 

Below we will explain the Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples for Present Continuous tense.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- is/am/are + being)

Subject + is/am/are+ v1+ ing + object

Object+ is/am/are+ being+ V3+ by + subject

Subject + is/am/are+ not+ v1+ ing+ object

Object + is/am/are+ not + being+V3+ by Subject

Is/am/are+ subject+v1+ing + object+?

Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

 

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Present Continuous Tense

 

Active: Esha is singing a song.

Passive: A song is being sung by Esha.

 

Active: Kritika is not chopping vegetables.

Passive: Vegetables are not being chopped by Kritika.

 

Active: Is Ritika buying a table?

Passive: Is a table being bought by Ritika?

 

Active: They are serving poor people.

Passive: Poor people are being served by them.

 

Active: She is disturbing Dinesh.

Passive: Dinesh is being disturbed by her.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Perfect Tense

 

You can understand passive voice for present perfect tense from the list which are given below.

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- has/have +been)

Subject + has/have+ v3+ object

Object+ has/have+ been+ V3+ by + subject

Subject + has/have+ not+ v3+ object

Object + has/have+ not + been+V3+ by Subject

Has/have+ subject+ v3 + object+?

Has/Have + Object+ been+V3+ by subject +?

 

Active and Passive Voice Example with Answers of Present Perfect Tense

 

Active: Nitesh has challenged her.

Passive: She has been challenged by Nitesh.

 

Active: Radhika has not written an article.

Passive: An article has not been written by Radhika.

 

Active: Have they left the apartment?

Passive: Has apartment been left by them?

 

Active: She has created this masterpiece.

Passive: This masterpiece has been created by her.

 

Active: I have read the newspaper.

Passive: The newspaper has been read by me.

 

Suggested Reads-

Direct and Indirect Speech

One word Substitution

Idioms & Phrases

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Simple Tense

 

Here in the below table, you can check Active and Passive Voice Rules for past simple tense.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- was/were)

Subject + V2+ object

Object+ was/were V3+ by + subject

Subject +did+ not+v1+ object

Object + was/were+ not +V3+ by Subject

Did+ subject+V1+ object+?

Was/were + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

 

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Past Simple Tense

 

Active:  Reema cleaned the floor.

Passive: The floor was cleaned by Reema.

 

Active: Aisha bought a bicycle.

Passive: A bicycle was bought by Aisha.

 

Active: Naman called my friends.

Passive: My friends were called by Naman.

 

Active: I saved him.

Passive: He was saved by me.

 

Active: Miraya paid the bills.

Passive: The bills were paid by Miraya.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Continuous Tense

 

We can easily convert sentences from Active to Passive Voice according to given rules below.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- was/were + being)

Subject + was/were + v1+ing+ object.

Object+ was/were +being+V3+ by + subject

Subject +was/were+ not+v1+ing + object

Object + was/were+ not +being+V3+ by Subject

Was/were+ Subject + V1+ing + object+?

Was/were + Object+ being+v3+ by+ subject+?

 

Active and Passive Voice Examples with Answers of Past Continuous Tense

 

Active: Nitika was painting the wall.

Passive: The wall was being painted by Nitika.

 

Active: Manish was repairing the car.

Passive: The car was being repaired by Manish.

 

Active: Were you reciting the poem?

Passive: Was the poem being recited?

 

Active: She was baking the cake.

Passive: The cake was being baked by her.

 

Active: She was watching me.

Passive: I was being watched by her.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Perfect Tense

 

There are certain Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past perfect tense, with these only you can convert any sentence in Passive Voice.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- had +been)

Subject + had + v3+ object.

Object+ had+been +V3+ by + subject

Subject +had+ not+v3+ object

Object + had+ not +been+V3+ by Subject

Had+ Subject + V3+ object+?

Had + Object+ been+v3+ by+ subject+?

 

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Past Perfect Tense

 

Active: Misha had cleaned the floor.

Passive: The floor had been cleaned by Misha.

 

Active: Vidhi had not received the parcel.

Passive: The parcel had not been received by Vidhi.

 

Active: Vishal had solved the doubt.

Passive: The doubt had been solved.

 

Active: Had they caught the thief?

Passive: Had the thief been caught by them?

 

Active: I had paid fifty thousand.

Passive: Fifty thousand had been paid by me.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Future Simple Tense

 

You can check Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules chart for future simple tense.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

(Auxiliary Verb- will+ be)

Subject + will+ v1+ object.

Object+ will+ be +V3+ by + subject

Subject +will + not+ V1+object

Object + will+ not +be+V3+ by Subject

Will+ Subject + V1+ object+?

Will + Object+ be +v3+ by+ subject+?

 

We can better understand Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples for future simple tense.

 

Active and Passive Voice Examples with Answers of Future Simple Tense

 

Active: Kriya will sew the bag.

Passive: The bag will be sewed by Kriya.

 

Active: Disha will not arrange the things.

Passive: The things will not be arranged by Disha.

 

Active: Will you mop the floor?

Passive: Will the floor be mopped by you?

 

Active: They will post the letter.

Passive: The letter will be posted.

 

Active: Reena will save money.

Passive: Money will be saved by Reena.

 

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Future Perfect Tense

 

Here, we are sharing the Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules chart for future perfect tense.

 

Active Voice

Passive Voice

Subject + will+ have +v3+ object.

Object+ will+ have+ been +V3+ by + subject

Subject + will+ have +not+v3+ object.

Object + will+ have +not+been+v3+ subject

Will+ Subject+have+v3+ object+?

Will + object+have+been+v3+by +subject+?

 

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Future Perfect Tense

 

Active: They will have brought the toy.

Passive: The toy will have been brought by them.

 

Active: Nimesh will not have changed the table cover.

Passive: The table cover will not have been changed by Nimesh.

 

Active: Will she have written the notes.

Passive: Will the notes have been written by her?

 

Active: They will have won the match.

Passive: The match will have been won by them.

 

Active: Vijay will have washed a shirt.

Passive: A shirt will have been washed by Vijay.

 

There is no Passive Voice formation for these tenses-

1.) Present Perfect Continuous Tense

2.) Past Perfect Continuous Tense

3.) Future Perfect Continuous Tense

4.) Future Continuous Tense

 

So, Candidates, now you must have got all the information for making changes in a sentence with Active and Passive Voice Rules of all tenses. Practice set and examples of Active and Passive Voice will help you to clear the fundamentals and score well in competitive exams.

Remember, every topic counts. If you find the information useful and worth sharing, must share it with your friends.

 

If you want to ask something about the topic, please comment in the given section below.

 

 

Active and Passive Voice | Rules for All Tenses

Mark Twain was in London when he heard that his obituary news had been published by mistake. He sent a cable to the USA, which read: the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

Introduction to Active and Passive Voice

Voice is one of the five basic properties of English grammar. The other four are mood, tense, person, and number. Voice is the connection between the subject and the object, which are linked through a verb. It’s interesting to see how English enables us to play with sentences by changing the word order, and come up with two entirely different structures to form active and passive. While the active voice is undoubtedly the more common of the two, the passive voice is used to serve certain purposes. In this lesson, we are going to take a look at how and when we use active and passive voices.

What Is Active Voice?

The active voice is a style of writing where the subject acts upon its verb. Here, the subject always comes first, followed by the verb and the complements. The active voice is so called because, unlike the passive voice where the subject is passive, the subject here is active.

Example Sentences with Active Voice

Andrew hit the ball.

Students always learn by doing.

People call Orlando the theme park capital of the world.

Catherine doesn’t enjoy visiting malls.

When to Use Active Voice

The active voice is the more preferred of the two voices. Because using active voice helps make writing shorter, more precise, and more straightforward, a lot of people choose to use it in most of their communication. This means unless there is a specific requirement making passive voice an ideal choice, we stick to active voice. Given this fact, there are more rules for when to use passive voice than there are for when to use active voice.

Advantages of Active Voice

• Since a sentence in active voice has a clear subject, it is easier for the reader to understand the sentence.

  Consider the below sentence, for example:

  I love reading Mark Twain’s witty quotes. (active voice)

  If we wrote the sentence in passive voice, it would sound awkward.

  Reading Mark Twain’s witty quotes is loved by me. (passive voice)

  If we rewrote the sentence “Reading Mark Twain’s witty quotes is a favorite pastime of mine”, it would sound great. But, this is yet again an instance of active voice and not of passive voice.

• Active voice instantly connects with the reader. This is because it’s free from the tangle of phrases that often accompany the passive voice.

  Read the following example:

  Mr. Miller said the park must introduce an entrance fee in order to facilitate uninterrupted service. (active voice)

  It was said by Mr. Miller that an entrance fee must be introduced by the park in order for uninterrupted service to be facilitated. (passive voice)

  The string of phrases introduced in the passive version of this sentence makes it a little hard for the reader to understand. Hence, we prefer to use the active voice.

What Is Passive Voice?

The passive voice is the style of writing where you change the order of words and make the object of the action the subject of a sentence. In other words, the subject is the recipient of a verb’s action. It’s called passive because, unlike the active voice where the subject is active, the real subject is passive here.

How to Recognize Passive Voice

To recognize if a sentence is in passive voice, look for the following words. This is not an exhaustive list, though.

by

is

are

being

has been

have been

will be

Example Sentences with Passive Voice

Kim’s wallet was stolen during the fair.

50 volunteers are required to make the campaign a success.

Over 1000 people were killed during the war.

The results will be published later today.

When to Use Passive Voice

There are specific rules for when using the passive voice is better or more appropriate than using active voice.

• when we don’t know who is responsible for the action

  Examples:

  My pet dog has been stolen. (Someone has stolen the dog; we don’t know who it is.)

  My essay has been corrected. (You gave your essay to the correction service, and one of the teachers corrected it.)

• when it’s not important who did the action, or we don’t want people to know who did it

  Examples:

  My car was fixed on Monday. (What is important is that the car was fixed; we don’t really care who fixed it.)

  Mistakes were made. (We don’t want to specifically mention who made the mistakes.)

• when the reader or listener knows who did the action

  Example:

  Kenneth has been asked to submit the grammar assignment again. (It’s obvious from the context that it’s the English teacher who has asked Kenneth to submit the assignment again.)

• when people in general are responsible for the action

  Example:

  The worksheet can be freely downloaded from the website. (Anybody can download a free worksheet, so the passive voice is used.)

• when we report crimes or write in scientific contexts

  Examples:

  The burglars were arrested as soon as they left the building.

  The animals were kept in a zoo for two years as part of an experiment.

Subjects in Passive Voice

The subject in passive voice is introduced with “by”. That said, not every passive sentence has a by phrase containing the subject. Subjects can sometimes be assumed or remembered from a previous sentence.

Examples:

The dish was prepared by Grandma. (The subject is introduced in the by phrase.)

After the party, a lot of food was wasted. (The subject is not mentioned, but it can be assumed from the context.)

There was a gathering at Grandma’s. All family members were invited. (In the second sentence, the subject “Grandma” is remembered from the first sentence.)

How to Convert Active Voice into Passive Voice

The chart below includes all tenses that are used in passive voice. There is no passive voice for perfect progressive tenses (present, past, and future) and future progressive tense.

Tense

Active Voice

Passive Voice

Active Sentence

Passive Sentence

present simple

read

is read

Keith reads the poem.

The poem is read by Keith.

present progressive

is reading

is being read

Keith is reading the poem.

The poem is being read by Keith.

past simple

read

was read

Keith read the poem.

The poem was read by Keith.

past progressive

was reading

was being read

Keith was reading the poem.

The poem was being read by Keith.

future simple

will read

will be read

Keith will read the poem.

The poem will be read by Keith.

present perfect

has read

has been read

Keith has read the poem.

The poem has been read by Keith.

past perfect

had read

had been read

Keith had read the poem.

The poem had been read by Keith.

future perfect

will have read

will have been read

Keith will have read the poem.

The poem will have been read by Keith.

conditional present

would read

would be read

If Keith had the poem, he would read it.

If Keith had the poem, it would be read by him.

conditional past

would have read

would have been read

Keith would have read the poem if he had had it.

The poem would have been read by Keith if he had had it.

present infinitive

to read

to be read

Keith wants to read the poem.

The poem wants to be read by Keith.

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