Active and Passive Voice

Active and passive voice refer to the subject of a sentence, and how action is performed. With active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action (think verb). In a passive voice, the subject receives the action.

 

Take a look at the following sentences:

 

EX. 1     The politician believes he is the best person for the job.

EX. 2      It is believed by the politician that he is the best person for the job.

 See the difference?

Both sentences above say the same thing, but the first example is clearer and more to the point. Why? Because the first sentence uses active voice, the subject, “The politician,” is doing the action, “believes.”

 

Active voice places the subject first, followed by the verb and object, as in-

 

The doctor stated that the patient’s high stress caused her heart attack.

It was stated by the doctor that the patient’s high stress caused her heart attack.

Because passive sentence construction add words and changes the normal doer-action-receiver, the reader must work harder to understand the intended meaning. Passive constructions are by their very nature wordier than active constructions, which also can lead to confusion.

 

See the following examples of active vs. passive voice below:

 Active: Diane (subject) loves (verb) her new chickens (object).

Passive: The new chickens (object) were loved (passive verb) by Diane.

 

Active: The Camaro (subject) outran (verb) the police cruiser (object).

Passive: The police cruiser (object) was outran (passive verb) by the Camaro (object).

 

Note that passive sentences aren’t incorrect; it’s just that they often aren’t the best way to phrase your thoughts. Sometimes passive voice is awkward and other times it’s vague. In addition, passive voice is usually wordy, so you can tighten your writing if you replace passive sentences with active sentence

 

“By” Sentence

 One way to identify a passive sentence construction is to note the word “by” in the sentence. If you have a passive sentence with a “by” phrase, such as, “The boy was bitten by the dog,” rewrite the sentence so the subject comes first, followed by the verb:
“The dog bit the boy.”

 Passive Voice Uses

 Passive voice actually is preferred in some instances. If you want to emphasize the action rather than the subject (or actor) you might use passive voice.

 

After the debate, the bill was endorsed by the state legislature.

 

Another instance you’ll find passive voice is in scientific writing.

 

“The DNA was tested.” (By whom?)

 

In this example, we don’t know who tested the DNA, as the author decided that wasn’t important. Scientists are expected to sound objective, so they take themselves, the subject, out of their sentences.

 

Although you may not be able to eliminate all passive voice from your writing, work to minimize it as much as possible. Your writing will be clearer, your message will be stronger, and your audience will be grateful!

 Now You Try!

Revise the passive sentences below to active. (Note the use of verb form).

 

1. The new nursing program had been approved by the Curriculum Committee and the Board of Trustees.
2. With five seconds left in the game, an illegal time-out was called by one of the players.
3. “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
4. An unexpected tornado smashed several homes and uprooted trees in a suburb of Knoxville.
5. I was surprised by the teacher’s lack of sympathy.

 (Exercises from http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/passive_quiz.htm)

 

 

 

 

 

ESL Spotlight: Verb Combinations

English sentences sometimes require a combination of a helping verb with a main verb. A helping verb, also known as an auxiliary verb, helps out the main verb, giving more detail in how time is portrayed. Helping verbs always appear before the main verb in a sentence.

According to The Brief English Handbook, English has 23 helping verbs; 9 work only as helping verbs, and the remainder are forms of do, have, and be.

• do, does, did
• have, has, had,
• be, is, was, were, are, am, been, being

In many cases, a verb will not be complete without a helping verb.

• The doctor will arrive soon.
• The contract was submitted late.
• Steve has been studying all night.

In the examples above, the sentences required a helping verb to complete the verb. Without the helping verb, they would not make sense.

Modals

Modals are a type of helping verb that express probability, necessity, or ability. Below is a list of modal verbs:

• Can, could, may, might, will, would, must, shall, should, ought to

• He does not know the answer.
• I should bring a dessert.
• Dave could come early if needed.

In the examples below, have, has, and had are used with past participles (driven, contributed, slept are all past tense) to form the perfect tense:

• I have driven all night to get here.
  Vicky has contributed more than anyone.
  Kate had slept later than usual.

In the following examples, is, was, were, are, and am are used with present participles to form the progressive tense:

• John was working on the furnace.
  Jason is swimming in the lake.
  The students are studying for the finals.

Passive Voice

The passive voice is created by combining a helping verb, is, was, were, are, am, with a past participle. This means that the recipient of the verb or action becomes the subject of a sentence. This is not grammatically incorrect, but a stylistic choice, though your instructor may ask that you avoid passive construction when you can.

• The boy was thrown from the horse.
  The trees were scorched by the wildfires.
  The kids were bitten by the puppies.

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Verb combinations are often confusing for English language learners. English also has irregular verbs that complicate our understanding, but with practice, you will begin to master verb constructions. Visit the links below for more information and exercises.

1. A number of recent crashes ____ (raise) questions about the risks of letting new pilots fly at night.
   A. had raised                        B. have raised
2. The board ____ (state) that approximately eighty people die each year in crashes involving privately flown planes.
   A. has stated                         B. had stated
3. Some experts ____ (argue) that the number of these types of crashes have decreased over the last twenty years.
   A. have argued                     B. had argued

 

[Examples 1-3 from Bedford St. Martin’s Exercise Central.]

http://www.englishlanguageguide.com/languagetools/englishverbs.asp

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/

http://www.englishgrammar.org/verb-conjugation-exercise/