Change Active to Passive Voice in English

Passive Voice in English

Usually, a Subject takes first priority in the construction of a normal sentence in English.

eg: 01
They have painted the house beautifully.

Passive Voice changes this usual pattern by not giving importance to the “subject” and therefore comes handy in many practical instances of communication.

What is Passive Voice in English ?

Passive Voice is a grammatical construction of a sentence which gives priority to the action described in the sentence or the Receiver of the action.

eg: 01
The house has been beautifully painted.

As in the above example, the second sentence (The house has been painted beautifully.) does not talk about who has done the painting. It gives priority to what has been done.

Basically what is vivid in passive voice is its unique pattern in the construction of a sentence.

Passive Voice meaning

Passive Voice means that a sentence is written or spoken with the point of view or from the voice of the Passive Receiver of the action discussed in the particular sentence.

Suppose, we need to highlight what has happened to a girl rather than who did it, we use Passive Voice.

eg:
She was sent out of the class. – Passive Voice

“She” in this sentence is the receiver of the action of someone who sent her out of the class. “she” is the passive receiver of the action. This sentence gives priority to “she” and therefore takes the voice of the Passive Receiver. Hence, takes Passive Voice.

eg:
The rude teacher sent her out of the class.

In the sentence number 02, who sent her out of the class (The doer) is the center of focus. The “rude teacher” which is the subject of this sentence receives the attention here.

Passive Voice Sentences

01 The drink is poisoned.
Subject verb
02 The paper was stolen.
Subject verb

A Passive Voice Sentence has a subject which is not the doer of the action in the sentence. The subject of a Passive Voice Sentence is the one who is the passive receiver of the action.

In some of the Passive Voice Sentences, the doer is added to the end of it with the help of the preposition “by”.

eg:
The paper was stolen by a student.

Thus, in a passive voice sentence, the doer does not receive priority. If we are aware who the doer is, we can add it. Adding doer to the sentence is optional.

Passive Voice Structure

eg:
The room was cleaned. (by the boy)
The room was cleaned (by) the boy.
The receiver of the action The action The doer
Subject of the sentence verb

Learn how to form the passive voice verb

The Passive Voice verb is basically comprised of two parts.

Passive Voice verb is formed as follows.

Helping verb + Past Participle form of the main verb

Eg:

Helping verb Past Participle verb
The dishes are washed. Are Washed
I was told a lie. Was Told
She has been taken to the hospital. Has been Taken
He is being blamed at the principal’s office. Is being blamed

Past Participle form of the verb

A verb can have following different forms and it is the Past Participle form of verb which we use in forming the Passive Voice verb. This part of the verb does remain unchanged despite of the Subject or the Tense indicated in the Passive Voice sentence.

Past Participle form of the verb is an incomplete verb form. It is also known as V3.

Verb forms-

eat - base form
(Simple Present Tense– Plural verb)
eats - Simple Present Tense – Singular verb
ate - Past form
eating - Present Participle Form
eaten - Past Participle Form (V3)

In case of Regular verbs, the Past Participle form is similar to the past form of a verb. Let’s clarify this with an example.

Verb forms-

work - base form
(Simple Present Tense – Plural verb)
works - Simple Present Tense – Singular verb
worked - Past form
working - Present Participle Form
worked - Past Participle Form (V3)

The helping verb

The helping verb in the Passive Voice Sentence is the one that denotes its tense. It also should match with the Number and the Person of the subject in the sentence.

The dishes are washed.
Subject verb

Since the subject of this sentence “The dishes” is a plural noun, “are” is the suitable helping verb to match with the subject. Further, the helping verb “are” indicates that the Tense of this sentence is “Simple Present”.

As in the above examples, the verb has been formed with a suitable helping verb to match with the subject of the Passive Voice Sentence and then the main verb in its V 3 form (Past Participle form of the verb).

  1. I was told a lie.
  2. She has been taken to the hospital.
  3. He is being blamed at the principal’s office.
01. was told Was – Simple Past Tense helping verb.
Matches with the 1st person singular subject “I”.
Told – Past Participle Form of the verb “tell”
02. has been taken Has been – Present Perfect Tense helping verbs.
Matches with the 3rd person singular subject “She”.
taken – Past Participle Form of the verb “take”
03. is being taken is being – Present Continuous Tense helping verbs.
Matches with the 3rd person singular subject “he”.
blamed – Past Participle Form of the verb “blamed”

Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice Sentences take the voice of the one who performs the action. Accordingly the subject of an action voice sentence is the one who performs the action described in the sentence. Since the doer of the action is same as the Subject of the sentence, the doer receives priority in active voice.

Eg:

Her mother washes her clothes.

Her mother washes her clothes.
One who performs the action The action Receiver of the action.
Subject of the sentence verb Object

Passive Voice Sentences take the voice of the passive receiver of the action. Accordingly the subject of a Passive Voice sentence is the Passive Receiver, not the one who does the action. Since the doer of the action is not as same as the Subject of the sentence, the doer does not receive priority in passive voice.

Eg:
Her clothes are washed by her mother.

Her clothes are washed by her mother.
One who undergoes the action of the verb The action One who performs the action
Subject of the sentence verb Object

Active to Passive Voice Converter

Let’s discuss how we change an active voice sentence into Passive voice.

Active Voice - Doer = Subject

We keep the books here.
Subject verb object rest of the Sentence

Passive Voice - Receiver = Subject

The books are kept here by us. (Optional)
Subject verb rest of the Sentence object

Steps to follow when converting an active voice sentence to passive voice.

  1. The doer takes the Object’s place and the receiver takes the subject’s place.
  2. Identify the verb in the Active voice Sentence. Choose its Past Participle form .
    Keep = main verb
    Past Participle (v3) = kept
  3. Identify the tense of the original verb to choose the suitable helping verb.
    Now look at the number (Singular / plural) of the new subject. (The books)
    The tense in this example is Simple Present.
    The subject is in plural. (The books)
    Therefore, the suitable be verb = are
  4. If we need to add the doer to the end of the sentence, we can add “by” and then the Object pronoun (us) of the relevant pronoun used here. (we)
Active Voice - We keep the books here.
Passive Voice - The books are kept here. (by us)

Active Voice Examples

Some sentences best communicate the intended idea when they are written in Active Voice.

  • Rani likes music.
  • Music is liked by Rani. (No proper idea) – Not suitable in Passive Voice.
  • I eat rice and curry.
  • Rice and curry are eaten by me. (No proper idea) – Not suitable in Passive Voice.
  • He fell asleep. (Intransitive - adverbial) Not possible in Passive Voice.
  • Kamal runs fast. (Intransitive - adverbial) Not possible in Passive Voice.
  • The principal runs the school well. (Transitive) Not suitable in Passive Voice.
  • She looks young (Intensive - with a complement) Not possible in Passive Voice.

Passive Voice Examples

Some sentences best communicate the intended idea when they are written in Passive Voice.

  • I was born in 1998. (Passive voice)
  • My mother bore me in 1998. (Not suitable in Passive Voice)
  • Wuthering Heights was written by Jane Austin.
  • Jane Austin wrote Wuthering Heights. (Not suitable in Passive Voice)
  • This song was first sung by Adele.
  • Adele sang this song first. (Not suitable in Passive Voice)

Passive Voice - All Tenses

Passive Voice Example Sentences

Tense Active Passive
Simple Present
(am, is, are)
We keep the books here. The books are kept here.
Present Continuous
(being)
(am, is, are)
We are keeping the books here. The books are being kept here.
Present Perfect
(been)
(has/have)
We have kept the books here. The books have been kept here.
(Has / have +been)
Simple Past
(was/were)
We kept the books here. The books were kept here.
Past Continuous
(being)
(was/were)
We were keeping the books here. The books were being kept here.
Past Perfect
Had, been
We had kept the books here. The books had been kept here.
Simple Future
(Will be)
We will keep the books here. The books will be kept here.
Future Continuous We will be keeping the books here. —-----
Future Perfect
(been)
Will have
We will have kept the books here. The books will have been kept here.

Verb forms of Active and Passive Voice for All Tenses

Singular Plural
Simple Present Tense Passive Voice am / is + Past Participle Verb
eg: am taught
is taught
are + Past Participle verb
are taught
Present Continuous Tense Passive Voice am / is + being + Past Participle Verb
eg: am being taught
is being taught
are + being + Past Participle verb
are being taught
Present Perfect Tense Passive Voice Has + been + Past Participle Verb
Has been taught
have + been + Past Participle Verb
have been taught
Simple Past Tense Passive Voice was + Past Participle Verb
eg: was taught
were + Past Participle verb
were taught
Past Continuous Tense Passive Voice was + being + Past Participle Verb
eg: was being taught
were + being + Past Participle verb
were being taught
Past Perfect Tense Passive Voice had + been + Past Participle Verb
Had been taught
had + been + Past Participle Verb
had been taught
Simple Future Tense Passive Voice Will be + Past Participle verb
Eg; Will be taught
Will be + Past Participle Verb
eg: will be taught
Future Perfect Tense Passive Voice Will have + been + Past Participle Verb
Will have been taught
Will have + been + Past Participle Verb
Will have been taught

There is no Passive Voice form for the following 4 Tenses

  1. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
  2. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
  3. Future Perfect Continuous Tense
  4. Future Continuous Tense

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