Active & Passive Voice

Change the following question to the active voice: The sandwich was eaten by the dog.

The dog ate the sandwich.

Change the following sentence to the passive voice: Kathy saw the dolphin.

The dolphin was seen by Kathy.

Why does it matter?

- Active voice = more direct + concise -Passive voice = usually wordier

When would you WANT to use passive voice?

-when intentionally trying to hide the subject of the sentence (ex. a politician might say, "The mistake was made by someone." Hiding the subject helps him/her hide the blame) -when intentionally trying to minimize the guilt of the subject (ex. a cheating boyfriend might say, "Cheating was committed by me.") -when passive voice better emphasizes the main point of the message, such as "Children were harmed by the drunk driver."

Forms of "to be"

am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been

examples of form of passive voice

Passive: The cookies were eaten by the children. Active: The children ate the cookies. Passive: The tunnels are dug by the gophers. Active: The gophers dug the tunnels.

Voice

the form a verb takes to indicate whether the subject of the verb performs/receives the action -active -passive

Form of Passive voice Verbs

the passive voice requires a "double verb" + will always consist of a form of the verb "to be" + the past participle of another verb ex. Active: John baked the bread. Passive: The bread was baked by John. ("was" is a form of the verb "be." "Baked" is the past participle form of the verb "to bake.")

Active Voice

used to show that the subject of the sentence is performing/causing the action ex. James threw the basketball before the buzzer. Kelly shot the basketball from the free throw line.

Passive Voice

used when the subject is the recipient of the action ex. The ball was thrown by James. The basket was shot by Kelly.