Changing ‘passive voice’ sentences into ‘active voice’ sentences
Jul 15, 2015
A passive voice sentence
hides the doer of the action and puts the emphasis on the object.
The ball was kicked by
the man.
Where is it good to do that?
In formal reports where you are not allowed to write, e.g. I sent out invitations (1st person) and it gets awkward to keep on saying The writer sent out invitations , then the passive:
Invitations were sent outis better.
How is the passive sentence formed?
1. The object of the active verb starts the sentence, and becomes the subject of the passive verb.
2. The passive verb consists of the helping verb “to be” (is, are, was, were, has been, had been, etc.)
+The past participle of the verb
ExampleNote that we usually don’t put in
“by…”
The results will be sent out tomorrow. (by the college)
Hats are worn to church. (by us)
Perfume is categorised as part of make-up. (by the experts)
OK. If we see we have written a passive sentence where an active one would have been better -
How do we change it to the active?
1. Take away the helping verb “to be” and turn the past participle into a
verb2. Bring in a subject.
Hats are worn to church. (by us)
We wear hats to church.
Perfume is categorised as part of make-up. (by the experts)
The experts categorise perfume as part of make-up.
How do you know what tense the active verb must be?
If the passive has the helping verbs
Is/are - present simple tense
Was/were - past simple tense
Has/have been - present perfect tense
Had been - past perfect tense
Simple tense example
The dogs are taken for a walk by their
owner. = The owner takes the dogs
…
The dogs were taken for a walk by
their owner. = The owner took the
dogs…
How do you know if the present tense verb must have an “s” at the end?
If the active verb is in the present tense and the subject is third person and singular (he/she/it/Mpho), then the verb takes an -s on the end.
Example
The dogs are taken for a walk by
their owner. = The owner takes the
dogs…
The dogs are taken for a walk by
their owners. = The owners take the
dogs…
Perfect tense example
The dogs have been taken for a walk
by the owner.= The owner has taken
the dogs for a walk.
The dogs had been taken for a walk
by the owner. = The owner had taken
the dogs for a walk.
Do we have to be careful about the active voice perfect tense helping verb
“to have”?We only have to check that
has goes with a singular, third person subject
and have with all other subjects.
The owner has taken the dogs for a walk.
The owners have taken the dogs for a walk.