There are two special forms for verbs called voice:

Active voicePassive voice

Active voiceActive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a  transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other  Indo-European languages.

Active voice is used in a clause whose subject expresses the agent  of the main verb. That is, the subject does the action designated by the verb. A sentence whose agent is marked as grammatical subject is called an active sentence.

The passive voice passive voice is a grammatical constructiongrammatical construction  in which the subjectsubject of a sentence or clause denotes the recipient of the action rather than the performer. In the English languageEnglish language, the English English passive voicepassive voice is formed with an auxiliary auxiliary verbverb (usually be or get) plus a participle (usually the past participlepast participle) of a transitive verbtransitive verb.

A sentence featuring the passive voice is sometimes called a passive sentencepassive sentence, and a verb phrase in passive voice is sometimes called a passive verb. 

The subject and object are interchanged The preposition BY is added before the object The verb is changed to past participle (3rd form of verb) A new auxiliary is added to the Past Participle form of

verb. If the subject or the object in an active voice sentence is a

pronoun (I, we, you, he, she, they, it) it changes: (I-me; we-us; you-you; he-him; she-her; they-them; it-it) and vice-versa. e.g. I wrote a letter – A letter was written by me. The prefect does keep accusing me daily – I am being accused by the prefect daily.

If the subject in the active voice sentence is unknown or unimportant or obvious, by + object is omitted. We make butter from cow’s milk. Butter is made from cow’s milk.

If the verb in the active voice sentence has a modal in it, the verb is changed to – modal + be + the past participle. e.g. Rajesh can lift this box. This box can be lifted by Rajesh. We should obey the rules. The rules should be obeyed.

When there are two objects, only one object is interchanged. The second object remains unchanged. (He told me a story – He- subject; me – object 1; a story – object 2) ( I was told a story by him; A story was told to me by him)

Active: Simple Present  Passive: Simple Present 

The movie fascinates me.  I am fascinated by the movie.

The movie bores Jack. Jack is bored by the movie. 

The movie surprises them. They are surprised by the movie.

Active: Simple Past  Passive: Simple Past 

The movie bored me.  I was bored by the movie. 

The movie fascinated Jack Jack was fascinated by the movie. 

Active: Present Continuous  Passive: Present Continuous 

I am helping Shannon.   Shannon is being helped by me. 

June is helping Su and Ling Su and Ling are being helped by June.

Active: Past Continuous  Passive: Past Continuous 

I was cleaning the bathroom.  The bathroom was being cleaned by me.

They were cleaning the bedroom.  The bedroom  was being cleaned by them. 

Active: Present Perfect  Passive: Present Perfect 

I have mailed the gift The gift has been mailed by me

Jack has mailed the gifts. The gifts have been mailed by Jack

Active: Past Perfect  Passive: Past Perfect 

Steven Spielberg had directed the movie. The movie had been directed by Steven Spielberg. 

Penny Marshall had directed those movies.

The movies had been directed by Penny Marshall.

Active: Future Perfect  Passive: Future Perfect 

John will have finished the project next month. 

The project will have been finished by next month. 

They will have finished the projects before then.

The projects will have been finished before then.

1. The tiger killed the deer. 2. The boy is learning his lessons. 3. This house was built by my grandfather. 4. Alice has been waiting for a long time. 5. Mother was making a cake. 6. The postman was bitten by the dog. 7. The thief was caught.

8. The accused were sent to jail. 9. The loud noise frightened the baby. 10. The dog chased the cat. 11. The letter was posted yesterday. 12. The oldman takes snuff. 13. The cat drank all the milk. 14. That boy of yours has broken my window again. 15. These shoes of mine pinch me terribly.

ANSWERS

1. verb – killed (simple past); voice – active 2. verb – is learning (present continuous); voice –

active 3. verb – was built (simple past); voice – passive 4. verb – has been waiting (present perfect continuous);

voice – active 5. verb – was making (past continuous); voice – active 6. verb – was bitten (simple past); voice – passive 7. verb – was caught (simple past); voice – passive

8. verb – were sent (simple past); voice – passive 9. verb – frightened (simple past); voice – active 10. verb -chased (simple past); voice – active 11. verb – was posted (simple past); voice – passive 12. verb – takes (simple present); voice – active 13. verb – drank (simple past); voice – active 14. verb – has broken (present perfect); voice – active 15. verb – pinch (simple present); voice – active