ACTIVE &

PASSIVE VOICE
made easy 
 ACTIVE VOICE
The SUBJECT of the sentence does the
ACTION to an OBJECT.

e.g.: The girl eats the cookies.

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

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 PASSIVE VOICE
The OBJECT becomes the SUBJECT and has
the ACTION done to it.

e.g.: The cookies are eaten by the girl .

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

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 Easy steps to change a sentence
from active to passive voice
1. Underline the VERB and identify the tense.
2. Divide the sentence into:
SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT
3. Begin the passive voice sentence with the
OBJECT.
4. Use the tense recipe to change the VERB.
5. Add the SUBJECT as “by ….”

 THE VERB STAYS IN THE SAME POSITION!

 THE TENSE DOES NOT CHANGE!
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Tense
Present Tense Past Tense Future Tense
Recipe (today) (yesterday) (tomorrow)
Indefinite am /is / are + was / were + past will /shall + be +
(generally) past participle participle past participle
am /is / are + was / were + will /shall + be +
Continuous
being + past being + past being + past
(ongoing) participle participle participle
Perfect shall / will + have
has /have + been had + been = past
(already been + past
+ past participle participle
completed) participle

Example:
subject past indefinite object
The boy broke a window. (active - SVU)

becomes

A window was broken by the boy. (passive - UVS) 5

 PRONOUNS IN PASSIVE VOICE

Pronouns change from the subject form to

the object form.

THEY will win all the trophies.

All the trophies will be won by THEM.

HE boarded the blue train.

The blue train was boarded by HIM.

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WHEN THE DOER IS NOT MENTIONED

WE take care of our employees.

Our employees are taken care of. (by us)

 The doer is NOT mentioned because it is

understood and would be clumsy to do so.
 This is especially true if the doer is a pronoun.

THEY will soon make a decision.

A decision will soon be made. (by them)

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 EXERCISES
 Identify the voice of each sentence
 change it into the opposite voice

1. Read the book by Tuesday.

2. They usurped the throne.
3. The money had been stolen by him.
4. Who wrote the article?
5. The car is driven by us.
6. He was taking all the food from the fridge.
7. Charles has not been warned by them.
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 ANSWERS
1. AV = The book must be read by Tuesday.
2. AV = The throne was usurped by them.
3. PV = He has stolen the money.
4. AV = By whom was the article written?
5. PV = We drove the car.
6. AV = All the food from the fridge was being
taken by him.
7. PV = The have not warned Charles.