Active and Passive Voice

1. Consider the following sentences :

Lata sings a song.

A song is sung by Lata.

There is practically no difference in the meanings of these two sentences. These are
two different ways of presenting the same thing. But in the first sentence the Subject
performs the action while in the second sentence, the Subject of the Verb is acted upon.

Thus, the voice shows whether the Subject of a Verb acts or is acted upon.

Active Voice : When the Subject of a Verb acts, the Verb is said to be in the Active Voice ;
as—

I made a mistake.
Passive Voice : When the object of the Active Voice becomes the Subject, the Verb is
said to be in the Passive Voice ; as—

A mistake was made by me.

The Subject dominates in Active Voice but the Object dominates in Passive Voice.

Note. It is only the form of the verb in a sentence which shows whether the subject is

the doer or the receiver of the action. A sentence in passive voice may or may not

have the ‘by’ phrase attached. Thus in the above sentences, ‘A mistake was made’ is a

complete sentence.

2. Rules for changing a Verb from the Active Voice into the Passive Voice :

1. The object of the Active Verb is made the Subject of the Passive Verb.

2. The Subject of the Active Verb is made the object of some Preposition (generally

‘by’).

3. The Verb of the Active Voice gets the Past Participle form of the Finite Verb and

some form of the verb ‘to be’ (be, is, am, are, has been, have been, was, were, had

been, will be, is being, will have been, etc.) will be used before it in the passive voice.
4. Some vague and indefinite subjects like ‘everyone’, ‘they’, ‘people’, ‘someone’,

‘somebody’, ‘everybody’, ‘anybody’, etc. are dropped if they are the subjects of the

active voice. If so, the preposition ‘by’ is also not used.

5. The Tense of the Verb does not change.

Example: He has done his work. (Active)

His work has been done by him. (Passive)

3. The Pronouns (when these act as subject) are changed as given below:

Subject Object

I becomes me

We becomes us

You becomes you

He becomes him

They becomes them

It becomes it

Who becomes whom

4. The following table gives the form of the verb ‘see’ in Passive Voice in the various
Tenses :

Tense Chart (Passive Voice’)

Tense Indefinite Continuous Perfect

third form verb in third form third form

is seen is being seen has been seen

am seen am being seen have been seen

are seen are being seen

Past was/were + verb in was/were + being + had + been + verb in third

third form verb in third form form

was seen was being seen had been seen

were seen were being seen

Future will/shall + be + verb — No change will/shall + have been +

in third form verb in third form

shall be seen shall have been seen

Note. The following four types of sentences cannot be changed into passive voice:

1. Present Perfect Continuous.

2. Past Perfect Continuous.

3. Future Continuous.

4. Future Perfect Continuous.

Exercise 1

(Solved)

I. Rewrite the following sentences putting the Verbs given against them in the
appropriate Passive Voice form :

1. She ……………… up by her aunt. (bring)

3. You will ……………… to the feast. (incite)

4. The result ……………… on Monday. (declare)

5. They ……………… at the report of the gun. (alarm)

8. We ……………… at his failure. (shock)

Answers:

1. was brought

2. have been sent

3. be invited

4. was declared/will be declared

5 were alarmed

6. were shocked

II Change the voice of the following sentences :

1. She sings a sweet song.

2. Do you not play hockey ?

3 Does he sell lottery tickets ?

4.1 am bending the branch.

5. Is she boiling potatoes ?

Answers:

1. A sweet song is sung by her.

2. Is hockey not played by you ?

3. Are lottery tickets sold by him ?

4. The branch is being bent by me.

5. Are the potatoes being boiled by her ?

6. Is tea being brought by the servants ?

Exercise 2

(Solved)

Rearrange the following into meaningful sentences :

1 this novel / Premchand / was / by / written

2 the brave / admired / everywhere / are

3, a doll / the baby / given / was

4, them / I / known / am / to

5, by / the door / whom / opened / was ?

8, him / a reward / to / given / was

7. one / one’s / keep / should / promise

Answers:

1. This novel was written by Premchand.

2 The brave are admired everywhere.

3. The baby was given a doll.

4. I am knovT1 them.

5 By whom was the door opened ?

6. A reward was given to him.

7. One should keep one’s promise.

8. Promise should be kept.

Exercise 3

(Solved)

Fill in the blanks in the following choosing one word each for every blank.

was, endured, be, opened, was opened, offered, considered, has, being

1. I ……………… the door.

2 The gate ……………… by the gatekeeper.

3. My pocket ……………… been picked.

5. I ……………… taught to read English.

6. He is ……………… a wise man.

7. What cannot ……………… cured must be

8. He was ……………… a chair.

Answers:

1. opened

2. was opened

3. has

4. being

5. was

6. considered

7. be, endured

8. offered.

Exercise 4

(Solved)

The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find
the missing word and write it along with one word that comes before it and the one that
comes after it. Ensure that the word that forms your answer is underlined.
He asked to go down to the end of (a) _______

the garden. He was also to wash himself in water of the river there. The same (b)
_______

water was and sprinkled over everything (c) _______

which had changed into gold by Midas’ (d) _______

touch. The king felt a weight had lifted (e) _______

front his heart. He freed of the golden touch. (f) _______

Answers:

(a) He was asked

(b) also told to

(c) was brought and

(d) had been changed

(e) had been lifted

(f) He was freed

Exercise 5

(Solved)

The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find
the missing word and write it along with one word that comes before it and the one that
comes after it. Ensure that the word that forms your answer is underlined.
I elected to the Committee of the society. (a) _______

I was in advance that I was supposed to attend (b) _______

every meeting. But I was not much to speaking. My friends called me a drone. (c)
_______

The banter appreciated. A drone is (d) _______

generally to be a thorough idler. Not that (e) _______

I was not to speak but the words failed me. (f) _______

Answers:

(a) I was elected

(b) was told in

(c) much used to

(d) banter wa$ appreciated

(e) generally thought to

(f) not willing to

Exercise 6

(For Practice)

Say whether the following are Active or Passive Voice sentences.

1. They have not come yet.

3. The earthquake destroyed the entire city.

4. The dogs are not allowed here.

5. You could do it easily.

6. The book is written in Hindi.

7. They guard that house.

8. The minority rights are protected.

Exercise 7

(For Practice)

Change the Voice of the following sentences :

1. This ticket will be given to you by the manager.

2. Why have you done this ?

3. A car ran over the dog.

4. We must obey the laws of the land.

5. By whom was the fair inaugurated ?

6. Gopal stole her butter.

Multiple Choice Questions

Read the statements given below and choose the correct option
I. Identify as directed :

Question 1.

The Active Voice :

(i) The farmer grows coffee

(ii) Coffee fs grown by the farmer

(iii) The coffee is grown

(iv) Coffee is not grown

Question 2.

The Passive Voice :

(i) I sing a song

(ii) She wifi heip me

(iii) Lata is cooking the food

(iv) I will be helped

Question 3.

In the News headlines, we generally use :

(i) Active voice

(ii) Passive voice

(iii) Present tense

II. Form the headlines for the sentences given below :

Question 4.

We require skilled workers.

(i) Skilled workers are required

(ii) Skilled workers required

(iii) Requirement of skilled workers

(iv) both (i) and (ii)

Question 5.

Rewrite the sentence in another way :

Whom were you discussing ?

(i) Who;was being discussed by you ?

(ii) Who was being discussed by somebody ?

(iii) By whom were you discussed ?

(iv) both (0 and (iii)

III. Choose the correct option :

Question 6.

(i) My pocket has been picked by somebody

(iii) My pocket has been picked by someone

(iv) both (i) and (ii)

Question 7.

(i) The object of the verb in the active voice becomes the subject of the verb in the
passive voice.

(ii) the subject of the verb in the active voice becomes the direct object of the verb

(iii) the subject becomes the object

(iv) Both (i) and (ii)

Question 8.

(i) He was laughed at by me

(ii) He was laughed by me

(iii) He laughed by me

(iv) Both (i) and (iii)

Question 9.

The relevant tense to form passive

(i) Present Perfect Continuous

(ii) Past Perfect Continous

(iv) Past Continous

Question 10.

Passive form of ‘Please huny up’

(i) I order you to hurry

(ii) You are requested to hurry up

(iii) I advise you to hurry

(iv) both (i) and (ii)

Answers:

1. (i)

2. (iv)

3. (ii)

4. (ii)

5. (i)

6. (ii)

7. (i)

8. (i)

9. (iv)
10. (ii)