Active & Passive Voice

1. What is Voice? 

Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject performs the action (Active Voice), or receives the action (Passive Voice). 


2. Types of Voice

There are two types of voice in English:

1. Active Voice

2. Passive Voice


3. Active Voice: 

If the subject is the doer of the action verb, we call it active voice.

Ricky kicks the ball. 


In the above sentence, the subject 'Ricky' does the action of kicking. So, the sentence is in active voice. 

Active voice is the most common voice in English. In active voice, object receives the action of the verb. In the above sentence, the object 'the ball' receives the action of kicking.   

4. Passive Voice: 

If the subject is the receiver of the action verb, we call it passive voice.

The ball is kicked by Ricky. 

In the above sentences, the subject 'The ball' receives the action of kicking. So, the sentence is in passive voice. 

5. Structure of Active Voice: 


Doer+Verb+Receiver
Ricky
kicks
the ball.

6. Structure of Passive Voice: 

Receiver+Verb+Doer
The ball
is kicked
by Ricky.

Notice that passive voice has a be verb + past participle of the main verb