active/passive tense
passive voice
-The opposite of active voice in which an author uses passive verb construction.
Harry ate six shrimp at dinner. (active) At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry. (passive) Beautiful giraffes roam the savannah. (active) The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes. (passive) Sue changed the flat tire. (active) The flat tire was changed by Sue. (passive) We are going to watch a movie tonight. (active) A movie is going to be watched by us tonight. (passive) I ran the obstacle course in record time. (active) The obstacle course was run by me in record time. (passive) The crew paved the entire stretch of highway. (active) The entire stretch of highway was paved by the crew. (passive) Mom read the novel in one day. (active) The novel was read by Mom in one day. (passive) The critic wrote a scathing review. (active) A scathing review was written by the critic. (passive) I will clean the house every Saturday. (active) The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday. (passive) The staff is required to watch a safety video every year. (active) A safety video will be watched by the staff every year. (passive) She faxed her application for a new job. (active) The application for a new job was faxed by her. (passive) Tom painted the entire house. (active) The entire house was painted by Tom. (passive) The teacher always answers the students' questions. (active) The students' questions are always answered by the teacher. (passive) The choir really enjoys that piece. (active) That piece is really enjoyed by the choir. (passive) Who taught you to ski? (active) By whom were you taught to ski? (passive) The forest fire destroyed the whole suburb. (active) The whole suburb was destroyed by the forest fire. (passive) The two kings are signing the treaty. (active) The treaty is being signed by the two kings. (passive) The cleaning crew vacuums and dusts the office every night. (active) Every night the office is vacuumed and dusted by the cleaning crew. (passive) Larry generously donated money to the homeless shelter. (active) Money was generously donated to the homeless shelter by Larry. (passive) No one responded to my sales ad. (active) My sales ad was not responded to by anyone. (passive) The wedding planner is making all the reservations. (active) All the reservations will be made by the wedding planner. (passive) Susan will bake two dozen cupcakes for the bake sale. (active) For the bake sale, two dozen cookies will be baked by Susan. (passive) The science class viewed the comet. (active) The comet was viewed by the science class. (passive) Who ate the last cookie? (active) The last cookie was eaten by whom? (passive) Alex posted the video on Facebook. (active) The video was posted on Facebook by Alex. (passive) The director will give you instructions. (active) Instructions will be given to you by the director. (passive) Thousands of tourists view the Grand Canyon every year. (active) The Grand Canyon is viewed by thousands of tourists every year. (passive) The homeowners remodeled the house to help it sell. (active) The house was remodeled by the homeowners to help it sell. (passive) The team will celebrate their victory tomorrow. (active) The victory will be celebrated by the team tomorrow. (passive) The saltwater eventually corroded the metal beams. (active) The metal beams were eventually corroded by the saltwater. (passive) The kangaroo carried her baby in her pouch. (active) The baby was carried by the kangaroo in her pouch. (passive) Some people raise sugar cane in Hawaii. (active) Sugar cane is raised by some people in Hawaii. (passive) These different sentences written in both active voice and passive voice illustrate the differences
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Here is a passive sentence: You will be sent a letter within six weeks. You know it's passive because you don't know who will be sending the letter. Here are a few more passive sentences: Payments will be taken from your account every month. (You don't know who will take the payments.) Residents are visited if they have any complaints. (You don't know who will visit the residents.) You will be telephoned when the outcome is known. (You don't know who will telephone.) You can see that these sentences are a little long-winded, impersonal and slightly pompous. Officials love the passive because it puts a distance between themselves and their readers. And even better, readers often have no way of knowing who will carry out the promised action and so no one can be easily called to account. Active sentences By making these sentences 'active' they are transformed: I will send you a letter within six weeks. We will take payments from your account every month. We visit residents if they have any complaints. I will telephone you when I know the outcome. If you want your writing to be clear and direct, the active will usually be a much better choice than the passive. When the passive is friendlier The passive can be a good choice if you don't want to sound aggressive. For example, look at these active sentences: You have ignored my letters. You did not settle your account. You have made an error of judgement. The passive will help you sound friendlier: My letters have been ignored. Your account has not been settled. An error of judgement was made. When you have to use the passive In some cases, you will have to use the passive. For example, look at the following active sentence: Mr Green marked my exam paper on Saturday. But what if you don't know who marked the exam paper? In this case you would have to write the following passive sentence: My exam paper was marked on Saturday
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active voice
Expresses an action done by its subject.
passive voice
Form of a verb indicating the subject receives action.
active voice
In active voice, the subject does the action of the verb
active voice
Sentence type: The opposite of passive, this is essentially any sentence with an active verb.
active voice
Subject PERFORMS the action of the verb.
active voice
does something <present tense>.
passive voice
has done something <usually in past tense>.
