ACTIVE AND
PASSIVE VOICE
1
2
Differentiate
between active and
passive voice
Identify examples
of each sentence
type
Apply
new
3
understanding by
transforming
sentences from one
voice to the other
WHAT IS IT?
Active and passive voice
are two different ways of
constructing sentences.
Passive voice is not
grammatically incorrect, but
active voice makes your writing
clearer and more natural.
ACTIVE
In active voice, the
subject of the sentence
performs the action
Example: described by the verb.
John built the house.
In this sentence, "John" is the subject, "built" is the
verb, and "the house" is the object. The subject
"John" is the one performing the action of building
the house.
PASSIVE
In passive voice, the subject of
the sentence is acted upon by
the verb.
Example:
The house was built by John
In this sentence, "the house" is the subject, "was built" is the
verb (with "was" being the auxiliary verb and "built" being the
past participle of "build"), and "by John" indicates the doer of
the action. The subject "the house" is receiving the action of
being built.
ELIMINATE
PASSIVE
You can eliminate passive voice by
making slight changes to your sentences.
Active Voice
Passive Voice
The town was
ravaged by the
hurricane.
The hurricane
ravaged the
town.
A delicious cake
was baked by
Liam.
Liam baked a
delicious cake.
PASSIVE OR ACTIVE?
Determine if the sentence is in the
active or passive voice.
The orbit to the moon was calculated
by a female engineer.
FIX IT
The sentence was written in
the passive voice. To fix it,
we need to rearrange the
sentence.
Active Voice
A female engineer
calculated the orbit to the
moon.
PASSIVE OR
ACTIVE?
Determine if the sentence is in
the active or passive voice.
The research findings were carefully
analyzed and interpreted by a team of
experienced scientists from various fields.
FIX IT
The sentence was written in the
passive voice. To fix it, we need to
rearrange the sentence.
Active Voice
A team of experienced scientists
from various fields carefully
analyzed and interpreted the
research findings.
YOUR TURN
Look at the example sentences
below. If it is passive, rewrite it to
active voice.
Examples:
•The students' questions are always
answered by the teacher.
•They are building a new bridge.
• The homework will be assigned by
the teacher tomorrow.