Passive voice

In the passive voice, the action’s target is the focus, and the verb acts upon
the subject. Or, to put it in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by
the verb. Every sentence in the passive voice contains two verbs:

 A conjugated form of “to be”

 The main verb’s past participle

How to change passive voice to active voice

After you finish your first draft, read it. You might even want to read it aloud
and listen to how it sounds. By reading and listening to your own work, you
can catch awkward sentences and unclear phrasing and mark them as
points to revise in your next draft. You’ll also hear where you used the
active and passive voices and how they shift your work’s tone as a whole.

Let’s say you’ve detected a few instances of the passive voice in

your argumentative essay:

More flexible scheduling options are deserved by students. Significant

amounts of tuition are paid to the university every year, and many feel the
level of service being paid for by students is not being received.

See how these sentences feel like they’re dancing around the topic at hand
rather than addressing it head-on? The writer isn’t making a particularly
persuasive argument, but they can make their writing far more impactful by
changing it to the active voice.
Sentence-by-sentence, identify who or what is performing the action, and
make that the subject when you rewrite it. In the first sentence,
make students the subject, since that’s who is performing the action. The
main verb in this sentence is deserve, and the target is more flexible
scheduling options, which will become the direct object in your new
sentence. With these identified, restructure the sentence so the subject is
now directly performing the verb. In the active voice, this sentence would
read like this:

Students deserve more flexible scheduling options.

See how this version gets right to the point? It makes the writer sound more
confident too, which is a priority in argumentative writing. Let’s try changing
the second sentence to the active voice, which also allows us to condense:

Students pay a significant amount of tuition to the university every year,

and many feel they aren’t receiving the level of service they’re paying for.

As you can see from the compound sentence above, you can
write any kind of sentence in the active or passive voice as long as the
sentence has a transitive verb. Whether it’s a simple or complex
sentence (or even a compound-complex sentence), you can dramatically
alter your tone by simply reworking its structure.

If you aren’t sure whether a sentence is active or passive based on how it

sounds, use the rules we outlined above to identify the two voices in your
work. The biggest clue you have a passive voice sentence on your hands
will be a form of “to be” followed by a past participle (e.g., was
requested or will be missed). Not every passive voice sentence says who is
performing the action, but if it does, you’ll see a preposition next to it
(e.g., by zombies or by my brother).
You can use either voice when you’re paraphrasing a longer work.
Sometimes, such as in cases where you’re paraphrasing a scientific article,
you’ll need to use the passive voice in your paraphrased version. In others,
you might actually make the original clearer by paraphrasing in the active
voice.

Active and passive voice examples

Take a look at these examples of both the active and passive voices in
action:

Active: Is Ajani visiting us today?

Passive: Will we be visited by Ajani today?

As you see, questions can be written in either voice. Other kinds of

sentences, like exclamatory and imperative sentences, are often best
written in the active voice:

Active: Please remove your shoes before entering my house.

Passive: Shoes should be removed before entering my house.

Active: Lock the door!

Passive: Let the door be locked!

See how with the first pair, the passive voice makes the request feel more
like a suggestion? In the second pair, the passive voice makes the
message sound stilted and formal rather than an urgent exclamation.

Now take a look at these two examples:

Active: I poured the solution into the beaker and heated it to 100℉.
Passive: The solution was poured into the beaker and heated to 100℉.

Active and Passive Voice Rules Chart

Tense Active voice Passive voice

Present Indefinite Does/Do Is/Are/Am

Present Continuous Is/Am/Are Is/Am/Are + Being

Present Perfect Has / Have Has been / Have been

Present Perfect Has / Have Has / Have been +

Continuous been Being

Past Indefinite Did Was / Were

Past Continuous was/were was/ were + being

Past Perfect had had been

Past Perfect Continuous had been had been + being

Future Indefinite Will Will be

Future Continuous Will be Will be + Being

Future Perfect Will have Will have been

Future Perfect Continuous Will have been Will have been + being

”
Active and Passive Voice Rules Chart
Tense Active voice Passive voice

Present Indefinite Does/Do Is/Are/Am

Present Continuous Is/Am/Are Is/Am/Are + Being

Present Perfect Has / Have Has been / Have been

Present Perfect
Has / Have been Has / Have been + Being
Continuous

Past Indefinite Did Was / Were

Past Continuous was/were was/ were + being

Past Perfect had had been

Past Perfect Continuous had been had been + being

Future Indefinite Will Will be

Future Continuous Will be Will be + Being

Future Perfect Will have Will have been

Future Perfect Continuous Will have been Will have been + being

Active And Passive Voice Rules For Conversion :

 The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb.
 The active sentence’s subject becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped).
The finite form of the verb is changed to past participle or V3 form.
 The preposition “by” is used before the passive object.
Active and Passive Voice Rules For All Tenses:
1. Simple Present/ Past/ Future Tense
 Active: Subject + V1/ V2/ will V1/ shall V1 + object…
 Passive: Object + Is/are/am/was/were/will be/shall be + verb (III forms) + by + subject…
2. Present/ Past Continuous Tense
 Active: Subject + Is/are/am/was/were + verb (ing) + object…
 Passive: Object + Is/are/am/was/were + being + verb (III from) + by + subject…
3. Present/ Past/ Future Perfect Tense
 Active: Subject + has/have/had/shall have/will have + verb (IIIrd form) + object…
 Passive: Object + has/have/had/shall have/will have + been + verb (IIIrd form) + by +
subject…
NOTE: Generally, there is no voice change with Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect
Continuous, Future Continuous, or Future Perfect Continuous.
4. Interrogative Sentences
Present and Past Tense:
 Structure 1:
Active: Do/does/did + subject + V1 + object….?
Passive: Is/are/am/was/were + object + V3 + by + subject….?
 Structure 2:
Active: Is/are/a/was/were + subject + verb (ing) + object…?
Passive: Is/are/am/was/were + object + being + verb (III from) + by + subject…?
 Structure 3:
Active: Has/have/had + subject + verb (IIIrd form) + object…
Passive: Has/have/had + object + been + verb (IIIrd form) + by + subject…
 Structure 4:
Active: Who + verb (s or es)/verb (IInd form) + object…?
Passive: By whom + is/are/am/was/were + object + verb (IIIrd form)?
 Structure 5:
Active: Wh-question word + do/does/did + subject + verb (I form) + object…?
Passive: Wh-question word + Is/are/am/was/were + object + verb (III from) + by +
subject…?
Future Tense:
 Structure 1:
Active: Shall/ will + subject + verb (Ist form) + object….?
Passive: Is/are/am Shall/ will + object + be + verb (IIIrd form) + by + subject….?
 Structure 2:
Active: Shall/ will + subject + have + verb (IIIrd form) + object…
Passive: Shall/ will + object + have + been + verb (IIIrd form) + by + subject…
 Structure 3:
Active: Who + Shall/ will + V1 + object…?
Passive: By whom + Shall/ will + object + be + verb (IIIrd form)?
 Structure 4:
Active: Wh-question word + Shall/ will + subject + verb (Ist form) + object…?
Passive: Wh-question word + Shall/ will + object + be + verb (IIIrd from) + by + subject…?
5. Imperative Sentences
 Positive
 Active: Verb + object
Passive: (i) Let + object + be + past participle
(ii) You are requested/ordered/suggested + to + verb (Ist form) + object
 Negative
  Active: Do + not + Verb + Object
Passive: (i) Let + object + not + be + past participle
(ii) You are requested/ordered/suggested + not + to + verb (Ist form) + object
6. “To be” Sentences
 Active: Subject + Is/Are/Am/Was/Were/Has/Have/Had + To + Verb (Ist form) + Object..
 Passive: Object + Is/Are/Am/Was/Were/Has/Have/Had + To + Be + Verb (III form) + By +
Subject.
7. Verb + Preposition + Object
 Active: Subject + verb + preposition + object…
 Passive: Object + to be + verb (III form) + preposition + by + subject…

NOTE: While converting such sentences into passive voices, the verb is always followed
by the particular preposition.
8. Modal Verbs
 Active: Subject + modal verb + (V1) + object…
 Passive: Object + modal verb + be + V3 + by + subject…
9. Di-Transitive Verbs
 Some verbs take two objects, for example:
 Active: Samdish gave the beggar an old t-shirt.
Passive: (i) An old t-shirt was given to the beggar by Samdish.
(ii) The beggar was given an old t-shirt by Samdish.
10. Sentences with the Intransitive Verb:
Such sentences are known as Mid-voice or Quasi-Passive voice. They seem in active voice,
but their meaning is in passive voice, and they have intransitive verbs, like without a direct
object.

 Active: Honey tastes sweet.

 Passive: Honey is sweet when it is tasted.

TENSE Active Voice Passive Voice

Simple Present I write a letter. A letter is written by me.

Present Continuous I am writing a letter. A letter is being written by me.

Present Perfect I have written a letter. A letter has been written by me.

Present Perfect I have been writing a A letter has been being written by
Continuous letter. me.

Simple Past I wrote a letter. A letter was written by me.

Past Continuous I was writing a letter. A letter was being written by me.
 TENSE Active Voice Passive Voice

Past Perfect I had written a letter. A letter had been written by me.

Past Perfect I had been writing a A letter had been being written by
Continuous letter. me.

Simple Future I will write a letter. A letter will be written by me.

A letter will be being written by

Future Continuous I will be writing a letter.
me.

I will have written a A letter will have been written by

Future Perfect
letter. me.

Future Perfect I will have been writing a A letter will have been being
Continuous letter. written by me.

FAQs on Active and Passive Voice Rules

Q1. What are examples of Active Passive Voice?
Active – I gave him a book for his Birthday
Passive- He was given a book for his Birthday.
Active – The Hunter killed the Lion
Passive- The Lion was killed by Hunter.
Q2. When can we use Passive Voice?
When we want to frame a sentence in such a condition where the main subject, who is doing
the action is not known then we can use passive voice.
Q3. How do we identify Active-Passive Voice Sentences?
When the Subject is doing the action it means the sentence is in Active Voice. And when the
Subject is only receiving the action it means the sentence is in Passive Voice.
Q4. What are Passive voice examples?
1. Active Voice: “She writes a book.”

Passive Voice: “A book is written by her.”

2. Active Voice: “They will complete the project.”

Passive Voice: “The project will be completed by them.”

3. Active Voice: “He repaired the car.”

Passive Voice: “The car was repaired by him.”

In passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject, and the verb is
changed, often with the addition of “by” to indicate the doer of the action.
Q5. Give some Passive exercises
Exercise 1: Change the following active voice sentences into passive voice:

1. The teacher teaches the students.

2. They built a new house.
3. She will sing a song.
4. The chef cooked a delicious meal.
5. The company has developed a new product.
Exercise 2: Rewrite the following sentences in passive voice:

1. The cat chased the mouse.

2. He has completed the assignment.
3. They are repairing the car.
4. The gardener is planting flowers.
5. She will bake a cake.
Exercise 3: Identify whether the following sentences are in active or passive voice:

1. The letter was written by Mary.

2. They are watching a movie.
3. The door was opened by John.
4. She will be awarded a prize.
5. He fixed the computer.
Q6. What are Passive voice tenses
Passive voice can be used in different tenses to indicate when an action happens:

1. Present Simple Passive: Happens now.

– The book is read by the students.

2. Past Simple Passive: Happened in the past.

– The car was repaired by the mechanic yesterday.

3. Future Simple Passive: Will happen in the future.

– The project will be completed by the team next week.

And so on, with each tense indicating a specific time frame for the action.

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Eduncle posted an Article

August 18, 2022 • 17:37 pm

Active and Passive Voice Rules, Example, Exercise for

Competitive Exam
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To get triumph in Competitive Exams candidates need to score well in every section
of the exam paper. There are certain topics which are common in every Competitive
Exam. A candidate must be having a good command on such topics to get a good
rank.
English has now been an essential part of every competitive exam and grammar is its
core. In this blog, we will talk about Active and Passive Voice.
In Active Voice, a sentence emphasizes subject performing an action while in Passive
Voice sentence emphasizes the action or the object of the sentence.
To know how a sentence is converted in Passive voice from Active voice, we need to
go through certain rules with examples based on it.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for All Tenses

Here, we are listing out the Active and Passive Voice Rules for all tenses. You will
come to know how an auxiliary verb is used to change a sentence from Active to
Passive voice.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Simple Tense

Here in this table, we are elaborating Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples
for Present Simple.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb – is/am/are)

Subject + V1+s/es+ object Object+ is/am/are+ V3+ by + subject

Object + is/am/are+ not + V3+ by

Subject + Do/does+ not + V1 + Object
Subject

Does+ Subject+ V1+Object+? Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

Active and Passive Voice Example with Answers of Present Simple Tense

Active: He reads a novel.

Passive: A novel is read.
Active: He does not cook food.
Passive: Food is not cooked by him.

Active: Does he purchase books?

Passive: Are books purchased by him?

Active: They grow plants.

Passive: Plants are grown by them.

Active: She teaches me.

Passive: I am taught by her.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Continuous Tense

Below we will explain the Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples for Present
Continuous tense.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- is/am/are + being)

Object+ is/am/are+ being+ V3+ by +

Subject + is/am/are+ v1+ ing + object
subject

Subject + is/am/are+ not+ v1+ ing+ Object + is/am/are+ not + being+V3+ by

object Subject

Is/am/are+ subject+v1+ing + object+? Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Present Continuous Tense

Active: Esha is singing a song.

Passive: A song is being sung by Esha.

Active: Kritika is not chopping vegetables.

Passive: Vegetables are not being chopped by Kritika.

Active: Is Ritika buying a table?

Passive: Is a table being bought by Ritika?

Active: They are serving poor people.

Passive: Poor people are being served by them.

Active: She is disturbing Dinesh.

Passive: Dinesh is being disturbed by her.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Present Perfect Tense

You can understand passive voice for present perfect tense from the list which are
given below.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- has/have +been)

Object+ has/have+ been+ V3+ by +

Subject + has/have+ v3+ object
subject

Object + has/have+ not + been+V3+ by

Subject + has/have+ not+ v3+ object
Subject

Has/Have + Object+ been+V3+ by

Has/have+ subject+ v3 + object+?
subject +?

Active and Passive Voice Example with Answers of Present Perfect Tense

Active: Nitesh has challenged her.

Passive: She has been challenged by Nitesh.

Active: Radhika has not written an article.

Passive: An article has not been written by Radhika.

Active: Have they left the apartment?

Passive: Has apartment been left by them?

Active: She has created this masterpiece.

Passive: This masterpiece has been created by her.

Active: I have read the newspaper.

Passive: The newspaper has been read by me.

Suggested Reads-
Direct and Indirect Speech
One word Substitution
Idioms & Phrases

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Simple Tense

Here in the below table, you can check Active and Passive Voice Rules for past simple
tense.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- was/were)

Subject + V2+ object Object+ was/were V3+ by + subject

Subject +did+ not+v1+ object Object + was/were+ not +V3+ by Subject

Did+ subject+V1+ object+? Was/were + Object+ V3+ by subject +?

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Past Simple Tense

Active: Reema cleaned the floor.

Passive: The floor was cleaned by Reema.

Active: Aisha bought a bicycle.

Passive: A bicycle was bought by Aisha.

Active: Naman called my friends.

Passive: My friends were called by Naman.

Active: I saved him.

Passive: He was saved by me.

Active: Miraya paid the bills.

Passive: The bills were paid by Miraya.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Continuous Tense

We can easily convert sentences from Active to Passive Voice according to given
rules below.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- was/were + being)

Object+ was/were +being+V3+ by +

Subject + was/were + v1+ing+ object.
subject

Object + was/were+ not +being+V3+ by

Subject +was/were+ not+v1+ing + object
Subject

Was/were + Object+ being+v3+ by+

Was/were+ Subject + V1+ing + object+?
subject+?

Active and Passive Voice Examples with Answers of Past Continuous Tense

Active: Nitika was painting the wall.

Passive: The wall was being painted by Nitika.

Active: Manish was repairing the car.

Passive: The car was being repaired by Manish.

Active: Were you reciting the poem?

Passive: Was the poem being recited?
Active: She was baking the cake.
Passive: The cake was being baked by her.

Active: She was watching me.

Passive: I was being watched by her.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past Perfect Tense

There are certain Active and Passive Voice Rules for Past perfect tense, with these
only you can convert any sentence in Passive Voice.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- had +been)

Subject + had + v3+ object. Object+ had+been +V3+ by + subject

Object + had+ not +been+V3+ by

Subject +had+ not+v3+ object
Subject

Had+ Subject + V3+ object+? Had + Object+ been+v3+ by+ subject+?

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Past Perfect Tense

Active: Misha had cleaned the floor.

Passive: The floor had been cleaned by Misha.

Active: Vidhi had not received the parcel.

Passive: The parcel had not been received by Vidhi.

Active: Vishal had solved the doubt.

Passive: The doubt had been solved.

Active: Had they caught the thief?

Passive: Had the thief been caught by them?

Active: I had paid fifty thousand.

Passive: Fifty thousand had been paid by me.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Future Simple Tense

You can check Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules chart for future simple tense.

Passive Voice
Active Voice
(Auxiliary Verb- will+ be)

Subject + will+ v1+ object. Object+ will+ be +V3+ by + subject

Subject +will + not+ V1+object Object + will+ not +be+V3+ by Subject

Will+ Subject + V1+ object+? Will + Object+ be +v3+ by+ subject+?

We can better understand Rules of Active and Passive Voice with examples for future
simple tense.

Active and Passive Voice Examples with Answers of Future Simple Tense

Active: Kriya will sew the bag.

Passive: The bag will be sewed by Kriya.

Active: Disha will not arrange the things.

Passive: The things will not be arranged by Disha.

Active: Will you mop the floor?

Passive: Will the floor be mopped by you?

Active: They will post the letter.

Passive: The letter will be posted.
Active: Reena will save money.
Passive: Money will be saved by Reena.

Active and Passive Voice Rules for Future Perfect Tense

Here, we are sharing the Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules chart for future perfect
tense.

Active Voice Passive Voice

Object+ will+ have+ been +V3+ by +

Subject + will+ have +v3+ object.
subject

Object + will+ have +not+been+v3+

Subject + will+ have +not+v3+ object.
subject

Will + object+have+been+v3+by
Will+ Subject+have+v3+ object+?
+subject+?

Active and Passive Voice Exercises of Future Perfect Tense

Active: They will have brought the toy.

Passive: The toy will have been brought by them.

Active: Nimesh will not have changed the table cover.

Passive: The table cover will not have been changed by Nimesh.

Active: Will she have written the notes.

Passive: Will the notes have been written by her?

Active: They will have won the match.

Passive: The match will have been won by them.

Active: Vijay will have washed a shirt.

Passive: A shirt will have been washed by Vijay.
There is no Passive Voice formation for these tenses-
1.) Present Perfect Continuous Tense
2.) Past Perfect Continuous Tense
3.) Future Perfect Continuous Tense
4.) Future Continuous Tense

So, Candidates, now you must have got all the information for making changes in a
sentence with Active and Passive Voice Rules of all tenses. Practice set and examples
of Active and Passive Voice will help you to clear the fundamentals and score well in
competitive exams.
Remember, every topic counts. If you find the information useful and worth sharing,
must share it with your friends.