VOICE

A form of verb that tells us whether the Action is done by subject itself or it faces the result of action
done by others. Sometime Action is done by the Subject directly and other times indirectly.
Examples:
 He takes tea.
In the above example, the action of taking tea is being done by the subject” He” directly.
 Tea is taken by him.
In the above example, the action of taking tea is being done by the same subject indirectly.

There two type of voice. They are

1. Active Voice
2. Passive Voice

1. Active Voice:
In Active Voice, the verb agrees the subject. It means the subject is active. When using the active voice, the
subjects are the ones performing the action.

Examples:
God loves all men.
Birds build nests.
Dog eats bones.
In the above examples, the subject does the action. Hence they are in the active a voice.

2. Passive voice:
In Passive Voice, the verb agrees the object. It means the subject is passive. In the passive voice, the verb
takes an object.

Examples:
All men are loved by God.
Nests are built by birds.
Bones are eaten by dog.

All the above examples above, are in passive voice. The Passive voice is used in English
(a) To stress the action done rather than the doer of the action
(b) If the doer is unknown
(c) When it is more convenient.

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Some Common Rules for Active and Passive Voice:
1. Subject is changed in to Passive Voice and vice versa.
2. Pronouns get changed when they change their positions in the following way as follows:

 I -- Me
 We -- Us
 You -- You
 He -- Him
 She -- Her
 They – Them
 It -- It
Active voice into passive voice conversion:
First move the object in the active voice to the subject position. Use the appropriate ‘be’ verb. Be
verbs used are am, is, are, was, were, has been, have been, shall be, will be.

Examples:
Active Voice: Columbus discovered America.
Passive Voice: America was discovered by Columbus

Active Voice: Open the window

Passive Voice: Let the window be opened

Active Voice: The work will be finished by me

Passive Voice: I will finish the work

Active Voice: Somebody cleaned the room yesterday

Passive Voice: The room was cleaned yesterday.

Rules for changing Active Voice into Passive Voice:

1. Identify the subject, the verb and the object(SVO)
2. Change the object into subject
3. Put the suitable helping verb or auxiliary verb. In case helping verb is given, use the same. But note
that the helping verb given agrees with the object.
4. Change the verb into past participle of the verb.
5. Add the preposition "by"
6. Change the subject into object.

Imperative Sentence :
If the given sentence in the active voice is in the imperative, to get the passive voice use ‘Let’. Hence,
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Passive Voice = Let + Object + be + Past Participle

Examples:
Active Voice: Help me
Passive Voice: Let me be helped

Active Voice: Sing a song

Passive Voice: Let a song be sing

Active Voice: Open the door

Passive Voice: Let the door be opened

Active Voice: Don’t eat this fruit

Passive Voice: Let not this fruit be eaten

Rules to be followed while forming passive voice:

 If the question in the Active Voice begins with a Helping verb, the Passive voice must also begin
with a suitable helping verb. Suppose the question begins with words such as what, when, how, etc
the Passive Voice must begin with the same.
Examples:
Active Voice: Who broke the window?
Passive Voice: By whom was the window broken?

Active Voice: Why did you write such a letter?

Passive Voice: Why was such a letter written by you?

Active Voice: Is she beating the child?

Passive Voice: Is the child beaten by her?

 If a sentence contains two objects namely Indirect Object and Direct Object in the Active Voice, two
forms of Passive Voice can be formed.
Examples:
Active Voice: She brought me a cup of coffee.
Passive Voice: I was brought a cup of coffee by her.
Passive Voice: A cup of coffee was brought [to] me by her.

Active Voice: The teacher teaches us grammar.

Passive Voice: We are taught grammar by the teacher.
Passive Voice: Grammar is taught [to] us by the teacher.

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  Compliments:
Examples:
Active Voice: They made him king. (AV)
Passive Voice: He was made king by them. (PV)

 Infinitive and Gerund :

Examples:
Active Voice: I want to shoot the tiger. (AV)
Passive Voice: I want the tiger to be shoot. (PV)

Active Voice: I remember my father taking me to the theatre. (AV)

Passive Voice: I remember being taken to the theatre by my father. (PV)

Passive Voice into Active Voice:

While changing Passive Voice into Active Voice, we must keep in mind all the rules of the Active Voice in
the reverse order. We come across sentences in the Passive Voice without subject or agent. In this case,
supply the appropriate subject.

To decide whether the given passive voice sentence is in passive voice, any one of the following
constructions should be present.
1. is, was ,are, were, am + past participle
2. be + past participle
3. being + past participle
4. been + past participle
5. Let ...be + past participle

Examples:
Passive Voice: The thief was finally arrested.
Active Voice: The police finally arrested the thief.

Passive Voice: We were taught grammar

Active Voice: The teacher taught us grammar

Passive voice and Impersonal passive:

The passive construction is quite common in scientific / technical / business writing. In these types of
objective writing the emphasis is usually on the action or process or thing that is described. So the ‘by’
phrase is generally omitted in these writings. It is called Impersonal Passive.

Examples:
 Last year, the Green-India scheme was announced by the Government.

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  Rare plants are found in Silent Valley.

In the first example, the doer/agent is explicitly mentioned because the doer is important in that
sentence. But in the second example, it is not so, because either the agent or doer of the action is too obvious
or unknown.

The passive form of verbs formed according to the tenses. Some of the examples are as follows:
Present Simple Tense:
Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice are am, are, is.
Examples:
Active Voice: They sell books.
Passive Voice: Books are sold by them.

Active Voice: She helps me.

Passive Voice: I am helped by her.

Present Progressive Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice are is being, are being, am being.
Examples:
Active Voice: They are eating apples.
Passive Voice: Apples are being eaten by them.

Active Voice: You are disturbing me.

Passive Voice: I am being disturbed by you.

Present Perfect Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice are has been, have been.
Examples:
Active Voice: He has completed the work.
Passive Voice: The work has been completed by him.

Active Voice: She has written five poems.

Passive voice: Five poems have been written by her.

Past Simple Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice is was, were.
Examples:
Active Voice: He bought a car.
Passive Voice: A car was bought by him.

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Active Voice: I helped them.
Passive Voice: They were helped by me.

Past Progressive Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice are was being, were being.
Examples:
Active Voices: She was washing a shirt.
Passive Voice: A shirt was being washed by her.

Active Voices: Boys were singing songs.

Passive Voice: Songs were being sung by boys.

Past Perfect Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice is had been
Examples:
Active Voice: They had won the game.
Passive Voice: The game had been won by them.

Active Voice: He had collected coins.

Passive Voice: Coins had been collected by him.

Future Simple Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice is will be.
Examples:
Active Voice: She will write a poem.
Passive Voice: A poem will be written by her.

Active Voice: You will receive the letter.

Passive Voice: The letter will be received by you.

Future Perfect Tense:

Auxiliary verbs used in Passive Voice is will have been.
Examples:
Active Voice: He will have received the letter.
Passive Voice: The letter will have been received by him.

Active Voice: Will he have received the letter?

Passive Voice: Will the letter have been received by him?
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Note: The sentences of following tenses can’t be changed to Passive Voices.

 Present Perfect Continuous (or Progressive) Tense

 Past Perfect Continuous (or Progressive) Tense
 Future Perfect Continuous (or Progressive) Tense
 Future Continuous (or Progressive) Tense
 Sentences having Intransitive verbs

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