Active and Passive Voice

Voice is of two types: active and passive. The active voice says what the subject does. On the other hand, passive voice talks about what is done by the subject.

The structure of the active voice of assertive sentence is:

          Subject + verb + object

Ø  I write a letter.

Ø  I am writing a letter.

Ø  I have written a letter.

Ø  I have been writing a letter.

Ø  I wrote a letter.

Ø  I was writing a letter.

Ø  I had written a letter.

Ø  I had been writing a letter.

Ø  I will write a letter.

Ø  I will be writing a letter.

Ø  I will have written a letter.

Ø  I will have been writing a letter.

The structure of the passive voice of assertive sentence is:

The object of the active voice + be verb + past participle of the main verb + by or other preposition + subject of the active voice

Ø     A letter is written by me. 

(Object of active voice + am/is/are + v3 + by or another preposition + sub. of active voice.) 

Ø     A letter is being written by me.

(Object of active voice + am/is/are + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

Ø     A letter has been written by me. 

(Object of active voice + have/has been + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.) 

Ø     A letter has been being written by me.

 (Object of active voice + have/has been + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.) 

Ø     A letter was written by me.

(Object of active voice + was/were + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

Ø     A letter was being written by me.

(Object of active voice + was/were + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.) 

Ø     A letter had been written by me.

(Object of active voice + had been+ v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.) 

Ø     A letter had been being written by me.

(Object of active voice + had been + being + v3 + by or another preposition + sub. of active voice.)

Ø     A letter will be written by me.

(Object of active voice + will be + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

Ø     A letter will be being written by me.

(Object of active voice + will be + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

Ø     A letter will have been written by me.

(Object of active voice + will have been + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

Ø     A letter will have been being written by me.

(Object of active voice + will have been being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)

     Active: He can do it.

Passive: It can be done by him.

Structure: Object of the active voice + can be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: You could do it.

Passive: It could be done by you.

Structure: Object of the active voice + could be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: They may help us.

Passive: We may be helped by them

Structure: Object of the active voice + may be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: He might follow us.

Passive: We might be followed by him.

Structure: Object of the active voice + might be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: You should write an email.

Passive: An email should be written by you.

Structure: Object of the active voice + should be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: She would help the poor

Passive: The poor would be helped by her.

Structure: Object of the active voice + would be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: We ought to help needy people.

Passive: The needy people would be helped by us.

Structure: Object of the active voice + ought to be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: We must follow the rules.

Passive: The rules must be followed by us.

Structure: Object of the active voice + must be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: We should have done it.

Passive: It should have been done by us.

Structure: Object of the active voice + should have been + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: We must have broken the rule.

Passive: The rule must have been broken by us.

Structure: Object of the active voice + can be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

 

Active: Students ought to have learned ethics.

Passive: Ethics ought to have been learned by students.

Structure: Object of the active voice + can be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice

Note: preposition ‘by’ is not used all the time. Look at the following examples.

 

Active: ATN Bangla telecast the news.

Passive: The news was telecast(ed) on ATN Bangla.

Active: I know him.

Passive: He is known to me.

Active: They annoyed him.

Passive: He was annoyed with them.

Active: The panic will surely seize us.

Passive: We will surely be seized with the panic.

Active: Her honesty has really pleased me.

Passive: I have been pleased with her honesty.

Active: The jar contains some water.

Passive: Some water is contained in the jar.

Active: This work interests me.

Passive: I am interested in this work.

Active: This news shocked her.

Passive: She was shocked at this news.

Active: They surprised me.

Passive: I was surprised at them.

Active: Their situation alarmed us.

Passive: We were alarmed at their situation.

Active: Their performance disappointed us.

Passive: We were disappointed with their performance.

Active: The scenery completely marveled us.

Passive: We were completely marveled at the scenery.   

Rule Number One

If an interrogative sentence begins with “do” verb,” we have to begin the passive voice with “am,” “is,” “are,” “was” and “were.”

 Present Indefinite:      

        Active: Do you play cricket?

        Passive: Is cricket played by you?

        Structure: Am/is are + subjective form of the object of the active voice + past participle of the main verb + by or another preposition + subject of the active voice

Past Indefinite:

        Active: Did he play cricket?

        Passive: Was he played by him?

        Structure: was/were + subjective form of the object of the active voice + past participle of the main verb + by or any other preposition + subject of the active voice

Rule Number Two:

 If an interrogative sentence begins with “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” we have to begin the passive voice with “am,” “is,” “are,” “was” and “were.” Then, we have to add “being” after the object of the active voice 

Present continuous:

        Active: Is she doing her homework?

        Passive: Is her homework being done by her?

        Structure: Am/is are + subjective form of the object of the active voice + being + past participle of the main verb + by or any other preposition + subject of the active voice

 

 Past Continuous tense

         Active: Was she writing a book?

         Passive: Was a book being written by her?

         Structure: Was/were + subjective form of the object of the active voice + being + past participle of the main verb + by or any other preposition + subject of the active voice

Rule Number Three

If the interrogative sentence begins with have/has/had, the passive voice should begin with have/has/had in response to tense, number, and person. Then we need to add “been” after the subjective form of the object of the active voice

 Present Perfect Tense

         Active: Have I broken the glass?

         Passive: Has the glass been broken by me?

         Structure: Have/has in response to number and person + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + v3 + objective form of the subject of the active voice.

 

 Past Perfect Tense:

         Active: Had they played football?

         Passive: Had the football been played by them?

         Structure: Had + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + v3 + objective form of the subject of the active voice.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

          Active: Have I been driving a car?

          Passive: Has a car been being driven by me?

          Structure: Has/have in response to number and person + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + being + v3 + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

          Active: Had I been driving a car?

          Passive: Had a car been being driven by me?

          Structure: Had + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + being + v3 + objective form of the subject of the active voice.

 

Rule Number Four:

          If the interrogative sentence begins with “shall” or “will,” the Passive voice of the interrogative will also begin with “shall” or will

Future Indefinite Tense:

           Active: Will you buy a car?

           Passive: Will a car be bought by you?

           Structure: Will + subjective form of the object of the active voice + be + v3 + by or any other preposition

          

Future Continuous Tense:

           Active: Will you be reading this book?

           Passive: Will this book be being read by you?

           Structure: Will + subjective form of the object of the active voice + be + being + v3 + by or any other preposition

    

Future Perfect Tense

           Active: Will he have bought this house?

           Passive: Will this house be bought by him?

           Structure: Will + subjective form of the object of the active voice + have been + v3 + by or any other preposition

 

Future Perfect Continuous Tense:

          Active: Will he have been saving some money?

           Passive: Will some money have been bought by him?

           Structure: Will + subjective form of the object of the active voice + have been + being + v3 + by or any other preposition

 

Rule Number Five

If an interrogative sentence begins with who/why/when, starting of the passive voice will also be who/why/when. 

  Who      

           Active: Who has broken the glass?

           Passive: By whom has the glass been broken?

           Structure: “by who” sits in the place of “who” + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) + 

 Why

          Active: Why did you do this?

          Passive: Why was this done by you?

          Structure: Why + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice

 When

        Active: When are you doing this?

        Passive: When is this being done by you?

        Structure: When + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice.

 

Rule Number One:

Try to find out whether the sentence is carrying out any advice or order or request or command. Then you should use “you are ordered”, “you are requested”, “you are advised” in response to your finding.

         Active: Do your job seriously. (advice)

         Passive: You are advised to do your job seriously.

         Structure: “You are ordered”, “you are requested”, “you are advised” in response to your finding + preposition “to” + main verb + rest of the sentence.

 

         Active: Please open the door. (request)

         Passive: You are requested to open the door.

 

Rule Number Two 

If the imperative sentence begins with “let”, passive voice should also begin with “let” followed by the object of the active voice + be + past participle form of the verb + by or any other preposition + object

         Active: Let me eat something.

         Passive: Let something be eaten by me.

         Active: Let her finish the work.

         Passive: Let the work be finished by her.

Positive, Comparative & Superlative Degree

Assertive to Exclamatory Sentence

Affirmative to Negative

Imperative to Assertive Sentence

Subject-Verb Agreement