Active & Passive Voice
The voice of a verb shows whether the subject performs the action or receives it.
Active voice — the subject performs the action. Use it when you want a direct, clear relation between subject and verb. The watchman opens the door. Hens lay eggs.
Passive voice — the subject receives the action. Use it when the doer is unknown or unimportant, and the focus is on the action. The door is opened by the watchman. Eggs are laid by hens.
Six rules for changing active into passive:
| Rule | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identify the Subject + Verb + Object (He drives a car). |
| 2 | Make the object the new subject (The car is driven by him). |
| 3 | The doer can be dropped if not needed (Milk is sold in litres). |
| 4 | Change the main verb to its past participle (3rd form). |
| 5 | Change the pronouns (I→me, he→him, she→her, etc.). |
| 6 | Add the correct auxiliary (is/am/are/was/were/been…) for the tense. |
Conversion across the tenses:
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| He writes an essay. | An essay is written by him. |
| They are eating bananas. | The bananas are being eaten by them. |
| Has he done the work? | Has the work been done by him? |
| Yaseen paid the bills. | The bills were paid by Yaseen. |
| They were waiting for him. | He was being waited for by them. |
| She won the match. | The match had been won by her. |
| He will write a letter. | A letter will be written by him. |
| Wisam will not have changed the bedsheet. | The bedsheet will not have been changed by Wisam. |
Tip: The passive is formed with a form of be + past participle. The doer, when shown, follows by (by him, by Yaseen). Note the special prepositions: known to, filled with.
Common mistake: Passive voice cannot normally be formed for the continuous-perfect tenses (present/past/future perfect continuous) or the future continuous. Also, never leave the verb in its base form — it must become the past participle.
✏️ Test Yourself
1. The food is cooked by her.
2. Birds build nests.
3. A letter was written by Hawa.
4. In the passive, the doer follows the word ___ .
📒 Words to learn
“I have never thought that he can be a timorous.”
“Don’t wheedle here.”
“Rameez avowed that he was involved in looting the bank.”
“An austere person cannot survive in Pakistan”
“He managed to appease his angry friend.”