What is the difference between active and passive voice? Here are some examples.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE – What are these, and how do you use them? Here’s an explanation with some examples.
What are active voice and passive voice? These are the grammatical voices in the English language. Each of them has distinct structures and purposes.
Active voice is used when the subject performs the action of the verb. This creates a direct and clear expression used for most non-scientific writing. This structure helps readers easily read your content as it avoids sentences being too complicated or wordy. It means that there are fewer words required to express an action.
Passive voice is used when the subject receives the action of the verb. When it comes to structure, the expression is more indirect. This is used when it is given more importance to focus on the receiver of the action than the one who performed it.
Examples:
| Active | Passive |
| The dog chases the ball. | The ball is being chased by the dog. |
| Rina loves writing. | Writing is loved by Rina. |
| A thief stole my money. | My money was stolen by a thief. |
Passive voice is used under certain conditions, and here is when you should use this:
- To stress the receiver of the action instead of the doer
- To keep the focus on the same subject through several sentences or paragraphs
- When we do not know who performed the action
- When we do not wish to mention the doer of the action
More examples:
- Present Simple
- Active: The chef cooks the meal.
- Passive: The meal is cooked by the chef.
- Past Simple
- Active: She wrote a letter.
- Passive: A letter was written by her.
- Present Continuous
- Active: They are building a house.
- Passive: A house is being built by them.
- Past Continuous
- Active: He was repairing the car.
- Passive: The car was being repaired by him.
- Present Perfect
- Active: They have completed the project.
- Passive: The project has been completed by them.
- Future Simple
- Active: She will deliver the package.
- Passive: The package will be delivered by her.
- Modal Verbs
- Active: You must finish the report.
- Passive: The report must be finished by you.