Active Voice and Passive Voice

 

Active Voice and Passive Voice

Read the following sentences :

•      Jems killed a snake.

•      A snake was killed by Jems.

You find that the meaning of the two sentences is the same and it is expressed in different ways.

In the first sentence, the subject ‘Jems’ is the real agent or doer of the action. The subject is active and the verb ‘killed’ is in the Active Voice.

In the second sentence, the subject ‘a snake’ is only the thing done. It is the sufferer or receiver of the action. So the subject is not active but passive. The verb ‘was killed’ is in the passive voice.

Note: The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb, when transformed.

And the passive verb is formed with the suitable ‘be’ form auxiliary verb (with agreement to the tense, number and person) and the past participle of the active verb. Preposition ‘by’ is used before the agent (doer) of the action.

Read the following pairs of sentences and study that the object in the frist sentence becomes the subject in the second sentence.

1.    a) I teach grammar.

b) Grammar is taught by me.

2.    a) He loves our country.

b) Our country is loved by him.

3.    a) They punished him.

b) He was punished by them.

4.    a) John drove a car.

b) A car was driven by John.

5.    a) My mother will cook the food.

b) The food will be cooked by my mother.

6.    a) I shall do this work.

b) This work will be done by me.

7.    a) Clean the blackboard.

b) Let the blackboard be cleaned.

8.    a) Draw a cat.

b) Let a cat be drawn.

(Number 7 and 8 are imperative sentences in Active and Passive voice.)

Note : We use the Active voice, when the doer of the action is felt very imporant, and passive voice when the thing done is very much concerned.

Exercise

Read the following sentences and say which of the vers are in the ‘active voice’ and which are in the ‘passive voice’ :

1.    The teacher teaches grammar.

2.    The bottle was broken by the boy.

3.    He wrote many letters.

4.    I want a knife ........... the fruit.

5.    Tye the letter please.

6.    You will be punished by your teacher.

7.    A letter is written by me.

8.    Kites are made by him.

9.    Please, allow us to go.

10.  The soodcutter will cut down a tree.

Exercise

Rewrite the following sentences using the passive voice of the verb :

1.    I shall do this.

2.    He typed two letters.

3.    They played a trick.

4.    She writes italics.

5.    The barber cut my hair.

6.    He saw a tall tree.

7.    She will buy a TV set.

8.    He put the box outside.

9.    I do my homework.

10.  He will meet you.

11.  We love our country.

Exercise

Rewrite the sentences using the Active voice of the verb :

1.    Dhoni was taken to London by Sing.

2.    The money will be paid by me.

3.    Let him be taken to London.

4.    The picture will be drawn by him.

5.    The cakes were eaten by my brother.

6.    A kite will be flown by the boy.

7.    A nest is built by the bird.

8.    Posting the letter is remembered by him.

9.    My firend is well treated by me.

10.  The parents were looked after by the son.

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the correct tense and voice form of the verbs in the bracket :

1.    Liquor ......... (not allow) in the hotel.

2.    He ......... (write) tow letters yesterday.

3.    The police ......... (control) the traffic.

4.    The letters ......... (post) by him.

5.    Sweet songs ......... (sing) by the girls.

6.    Coffee ......... (prepared) by my sister every morning.

Md : Shamim Mahmud

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