ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

ACTIVE VS PASSIVE

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WHAT DO WE USE THE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE FOR?

Using or speaking in the passive voice in English will make your texts more formal. On the other hand, if you use the active voice, your writings or speeches will be easier to understand.

the active voice

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Active Voice: subject + verb + object

• Active voice helps writers present their information clearly and concisely.
• In the active voice, the subject is performing an action, that means, the person or thing represented by the grammatical subject performs the action represented by the verb.

EXAMPLES ACTIVE VOICE

• She delivered the letters yesterday.
• The teacher assigned a book report.
• The company will hire at least two new employees.
• Hundreds of tourists visit the museum each year.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Passive Voice: object + to be + past participle verb + subject (optional)

• Sentences in the passive voice contain a conjugated form of the verb to be (is, was, has been, will be, etc.) and the past participle form of a verb.
• Passive voice sentences often contain a preposition or prepositional phrase, like by.
• The passive voice makes the subject the person or thing acted on or affected by the action represented by the verb.

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EXAMPLES PASSIVE VOICE

• The letters were delivered by her yesterday.
• A book report was assigned.
• At least two new employees will be hired by the company.
• The museum is visited each year by hundreds of tourists.

Is it possible TO CHANGE the passive voice to the active voice

- Genially

YESS!! IT'S POSSIBLE.

• Switching the position of the object and subject will change the sentence to active voice: FOR EXAMPLE:
• Passive Voice: A letter (object) was written by him (subject) to his family.
• Active Voice: He (subject) wrote a letter (object) to his family.

WE ARE ALMOST FINISHED!

- Genially

DON'T FORGET THESE EXTRA RULES

The subject does not need to be directly identified when using passive voice.

Passive Voice: The fire was extinguished in less than an hour.

The verb form can determine if a sentence is active or passive.

Active Voice: He ate (past tense verb) the entire cake himself. Passive Voice: The entire cake was eaten (past participle) by himself.

Now, yes, we are done!

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