Active and Passive Voice Rules: Active and Passive voice rules: In English, the sentences can be written both active and passive voice. Active voice is a direct form and passive voice is an indirect form.
In English, the verb represents that subject, whether an object or a person, of a sentence, has done something or something is done by the subject called the voice. A sentence that starts with the subject or the item to decide if the sentence was classified as dynamic or detached voice sentences.
In this article, we will discuss the voices of verbs with rules and examples. Learn the active and passive rules with examples here to prepare for academic as well as competitive exams. Use these rules to form simple, negative and interrogative sentences.
What is the Voice of Verb?
The voice of a verb communicates whether the subject in the sentence has performed or gotten the activity. There are two types of voices in English grammar:
- Active Voice
- Passive Voice
Active Voice: When an activity performed by the subject is communicated by the action word, it is an active voice. Dynamic voice is utilized when more clear connection and lucidity are needed between the subject and the action word.
Passive Voice: When the activity communicated by the action word is gotten by the subject, it is a passive voice. Passive voice is utilized when the practitioner of the activity isn’t known and the focal point of the sentence is on the activity and not the subject.
Active and Passive Voice Examples
| Active Voice Examples | Passive Voice Examples |
| Mohan sings a song | A song is sung by Mohan |
| Sita reads a book | A book is read by Sita |
| He writes a letter | A letter is written by him |
| She plays cricket | Cricket is played by her |
| He sells book | Books are sold by him |
| I have made some tea | Tea has been made by me |
Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules Chart
The rules for an active and passive voice for different types of tenses are given here, such as:
- Present simple tense
- Present continuous tense
- Present perfect tense
- Past simple tense
- Past continuous tense
- Past perfect tense
- Future simple tense
- Future perfect tense
But there are no passive voice formation for these tenses:
- Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- Past Perfect Continuous Tense
- Future Perfect Continuous Tense
- Future Continuous Tense
Present Simple Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb – is/am/are) | Example |
| Subject + V1+s/es+ object | Object+ is/am/are+ V3+ by + subject | Active: He writes an essay Passive: An essay is written by him |
| Subject + Do/does+ not + V1 + Object | Object + is/am/are+ not + V3+ by Subject | |
| Does+ Subject+ V1+Object | Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject |
Present Continuos Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- is/am/are + being) | Example |
| Subject + is/am/are+ v1+ ing + object | Object+ is/am/are+ being+ V3+ by + subject | Active: Sam is playing guitar Passive: The guitar is played by Sam |
| Subject + is/am/are+ not+ v1+ ing+ object | Object + is/am/are+ not + being+V3+ by Subject | |
| Is/am/are+ subject+v1+ing + object | Is/am/are + Object+ V3+ by subject |
Present Perfect Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- has/have +been) | Example |
| Subject + has/have+ v3+ object | Object+ has/have+ been+ V3+ by + subject | Active: Ram created this masterpiece Passive: The masterpiece is created by Ram |
| Subject + has/have+ not+ v3+ object | Object + has/have+ not + been+V3+ by Subject | |
| Has/have+ subject+ v3 + object | Has/Have + Object+ been+V3+ by subject |
Past Simple Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- was/were) | Example |
| Subject + V2+ object | Object+ was/were V3+ by + subject | Active: Rama paid the bills Passive: The bills were paid by Rama |
| Subject +did+ not+v1+ object | Object + was/were+ not +V3+ by Subject | |
| Did+ subject+V1+ object | Was/were + Object+ V3+ by subject |
Past Continuous Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- was/were + being) | Example |
| Subject + was/were + v1+ing+ object. | Object+ was/were +being+V3+ by + subject | Active: Asha was learning English Passive: English was being learned by Asha |
| Subject +was/were+ not+v1+ing + object | Object + was/were+ not +being+V3+ by Subject | |
| Was/were+ Subject + V1+ing + object | Was/were + Object+ being+v3+ by+ subject |
Past Perfect Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- had +been) | Example |
| Subject + had + v3+ object. | Object+ had+been +V3+ by + subject | Active: Hina won the match Passive: The match had been won by Hina |
| Subject +had+ not+v3+ object | Object + had+ not +been+V3+ by Subject | |
| Had+ Subject + V3+ object | Had + Object+ been+v3+ by+ subject |
Future Simple Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice (Auxiliary Verb- will+ be) | Example |
| Subject + will+ v1+ object | Object+ will+ be +V3+ by + subject | Active: Manu will write a letter Passive: A letter will be written by Manu |
| Subject +will + not+ V1+object | Object + will+ not +be+V3+ by Subject | |
| Will+ Subject + V1+ object | Will + Object+ be +v3+ by+ subject |
Future Perfect Tense
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | Example |
| Subject + will+ have +v3+ object. | Object+ will+ have+ been +V3+ by + subject | Active: India will have won the match Passive: The match will have won by India |
| Subject + will+ have +not+v3+ object. | Object + will+ have +not+been+v3+ subject | |
| Will+ Subject+have+v3+ object | Will + object+have+been+v3+by +subject |
Noun and Pronoun for Active and Passive
See how the pronoun in active voice has to be converted into pronoun in passive voice with the help of this table.
| Active Voice Pronoun | Passive Voice Pronoun |
| I | Me |
| We | Us |
| He | Him |
| She | Her |
| They | Them |
| You | You |
| It | It |
FAQ’s on Active and Passive Voice Rules
Question 1.
What is active voice? Give example.
Answer:
When an activity performed by the subject is communicated by the action word, it is an active voice. Dynamic voice is utilized when more clear connection and lucidity are needed between the subject and the action word. For example, “Rita is playing badminton” is an active voice.
Question 2.
What is passive voice? Give example.
Answer:
When the activity communicated by the action word is gotten by the subject, it is a passive voice. Passive voice is utilized when the practitioner of the activity isn’t known and the focal point of the sentence is on the activity and not the subject. For example, “Badminton is being played by Rita”.
Question 3.
What are the basic rules for active voice and passive voice?
Answer:
The basic three rules are:
- The subject becomes the object and the object becomes the subject
- Use third form of verb such as is/ am/ are/ was/ were/ been/ being, as per the tenses in passive voice
- Active pronoun changes to passive pronoun, like ‘I’ changes to ‘me’.
- There is no passive voice of present/ past/ future perfect continuous and future continuous sentences
- Use “by” before subject in passive voice