ACTIVE PASSIVE VOICE

by Septi Lastiani 05.20.00 0 comments

ACTIVE / PASSIVE VOICE EXPLANATION

An action of a subject, in relation to an object, is expressed in two ways. These two ways of expressing action of a subject are known as Voices. The structure of same sentence changes when expressed as Active Voice or Passive Voice. The meaning of a sentence either expressed as Active Voice or Passive Voice, remains the same. The meaning or main idea of sentence, either expressed as Active Voice or Passive Voice does not change.

Parts of Speech The structure of a same sentence changes for Active Voice and Passive Voice. We know that every sentence have a subject, a verb and an object. Subject is an agent who works on an object in a sentence. In the above example, “I” is the subject of the sentence that is doing some work on the object ‘letter’ in the same sentence.

To understand the difference in both voices, we should focus on the subject and the object of a sentence. In Active Voice, the subject acts upon the object. In Passive Voice, the object is acted upon by the subject. The meaning remains the same in both Voices but the sequence of the words (subject & object) changes. The Active and Passive Voice sequence, of subject and object as in Active Voice, is reversed when it is expressed in Passive Voice. Read the following example for better understanding this difference.

·      Active voice

The active voice is a style of writing where the subject completes the action of the sentence. These examples show that the subject is  doing the verb's action. Examples of Active Voice:

·      Lexi mows the lawn.

·      Corinne makes pancakes every Sunday.

In each of these sentences, the subject comes before the verb and object. The subject is “doing” the verb in the sentence. This is called the active voice.

·      Passive voice

One can change the normal word order of many active sentences (those with a direct object) so that the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb - or passive. Note in these examples how the subject-verb relationship has changed. Because the subject is being "acted upon" (or is passive), such sentences are said to be in the passive voice. Examples of Passive Voice:

·      John painted the house last week.

Subject / verb / object

·      The house was painted last week.

Subject / verb

Active and Passive Overview

Tense	Active	Passive
Simple Present	Once a week, Tom cleans the house.	Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous	Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.	Right now, the letter is being writtenby Sarah.
Simple Past	Sam repaired the car.	The car was repaired by Sam.
Past Continuous	The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.	The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle.	That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Present Perfect Continuous	Recently, John has been doing the work.	Recently, the work has been being done by John.
Past Perfect	George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license.	Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license.
Past Perfect Continuous	Chef Jones had been preparingthe restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.	The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
Simple Future will	Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM.	The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
Simple Future be going to	Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	A beautiful dinner is going to be madeby Sally tonight.
Future Continuous will	At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John.
Future Continuous be going to	At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John.
Future Perfect will	They will have completed the project before the deadline.	The project will have been completedbefore the deadline.
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completedthe project before the deadline.	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect Continuous will	The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills.	The bills used to be paid by Jerry.
Would Always	My mother would always make the pies.	The pies would always be made by my mother.
Future in the Past Would	I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM.	I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Sally was going to makea beautiful dinner tonight.	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight.