UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLGICA DE POANAS

ENGLISH VI

Active and passive voice

Teachers name: Mirella Snchez Mndez.

Students name: Jazael Alejandro lvarez Martnez.

Wednesday, November 15th 2017

 Active and passive voice
Active voice and passive voice are the forms of sentences. We can write these
for same meaning.

Active Voice:
Active voice is a sentence in which verb shows that subject does an action.

Characteristics of active voice:

We shall see the characteristics of this form.
In active voice:
The subject of sentence in active form is at the starting of the sentence.
Subject is followed by the form of to be, verb and object.
We can say that verb is in the active voice.
An active voice tells clearly about the action who has done it.
Structure of sentence:
Subject+ Verb+ Object
Example:
Here are some example with explanation:
I keep the butter in the fridge
In above sentence, we have a subject (me), a verb (keep) and the object of
the verb (butter)
Past simple:
The structure is followed but the verb is changed to indicate that its an action in
the past.
I kept the butter in the fridge

Passive Voice:
Passive voice is the sentence in which the form of verb shows that an action is
done to the subject.
Characteristics of passive voice:

When we change the sentence from active to passive voice, the object
becomes the subject.
 We can use sentences with only transitive verbs in passive voice that is
we can change the sentences having object into this voice.
This form may or may not tell clearly about the action who has done it.
To make clear the action who has done it we should add by

Structure of sentence:

Subject+ form of to be + past participle of verb+ by + object

Example with explanation

A website has been built.

Or

A website has been built by my son.

In above sentence, we have:

Direct object of the verb (a website)

The verb is in passive form (has been built)
Subject is missing but we can add by and make the subject clear.

We can have passive and active form of following tenses with examples of
three persons to understand easily.

Past simple:
Mary kept her schedule meticulously.
Mary's schedule was kept meticulously.
The structure is followed but added was to indicate that its an action in the
past.