Welcome to Active and Passive Voice!

Have you ever noticed that you can say the same thing in two different ways? For example, you could say "The dog ate the toast" or "The toast was eaten by the dog."

In this chapter, we are going to learn about the active and passive voice. This is a brilliant tool for your writing because it helps you choose what information is most important in a sentence. It is also a key part of your Year 6 GPS (Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling) test!

The Building Blocks: Subject and Object

Before we dive in, we need to remember two important terms from your grammar toolkit:

  • Subject: The person or thing doing the action.
  • Object: The person or thing receiving the action.

Example: The astronaut (Subject) fixed the rocket (Object).

Quick Review: For more on these, you can look at the chapter on "G1.9 Subject and object."

What is Active Voice?

In the active voice, the subject of the sentence comes first and performs the action. Most of the sentences we speak and write every day are active.

The structure looks like this:
\(Subject + Verb + Object\)

Examples:
1. The chef cooked the meal.
2. The team won the trophy.
3. The cat chased the laser pointer.

In each of these, the "doer" (the chef, the team, the cat) is the star of the sentence.

What is Passive Voice?

In the passive voice, the sentence is flipped. The thing being acted upon (the object) moves to the front. The person or thing doing the action usually moves to the end or is left out entirely.

The structure looks like this:
\(Object + "to\ be"\ verb + Past\ Participle + ("by" + Subject)\)

Examples (turned into passive):
1. The meal was cooked by the chef.
2. The trophy was won by the team.
3. The laser pointer was chased by the cat.

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! Just remember that in passive sentences, the subject is having something done to it, rather than doing the action itself.

How to Spot a Passive Sentence: The "By Zombies" Trick

If you aren't sure if a sentence is passive, try adding the phrase "by zombies" after the verb. If the sentence still makes sense, it is likely passive!

  • Active: "The boy kicked the ball (by zombies)." — Does not make sense!
  • Passive: "The ball was kicked (by zombies)." — Makes sense!

Why Use the Passive Voice?

You might wonder why we would bother flipping sentences around. There are three main reasons:

  1. To sound more formal: Passive voice is often used in scientific reports or news stories. Instead of saying "I mixed the chemicals," a scientist might write, "The chemicals were mixed."
  2. The "doer" is unknown: "The window was broken." (We don't know who did it!)
  3. The "doer" isn't important: "The road was paved." (The road is the important part, not the specific workers.)

Note: Passive structures are a key part of Standard English and formal writing (see "G7 Standard English and formality").

Step-by-Step: Changing Active to Passive

If you are asked to rewrite a sentence from active to passive in your test, follow these steps:

Active Sentence: The gardener watered the flowers.

  1. Find the Object: The flowers. (Move this to the start).
  2. Add the "to be" verb: Since "flowers" is plural and it happened in the past, use "were".
  3. Change the main verb: Use the past participle "watered".
  4. Add "by": Put "by" before the original subject.

Passive Result: The flowers were watered by the gardener.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Changing the Tense: If the active sentence is in the past tense ("The girl found the key"), the passive sentence must stay in the past tense ("The key was found by the girl"). Don't change it to "is found"!
  • Confusing the Subject: Always ask: "Is the thing at the start of the sentence doing the action?" If the answer is no, it's passive.

Quick Summary

  • Active Voice: The subject does the action. (The dragon blew fire.)
  • Passive Voice: The subject receives the action. (The fire was blown by the dragon.)
  • Clue: Passive sentences often use the word "by" and a form of the verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were).
  • Use: Passive voice is great for formal writing or when the "doer" is a mystery.