Active to Passive
What is Voice?
Voice is the form of the verb that shows whether the subject is the doer or the receiver of the action.
Types of Voice
There are two types of voice in English-Active Voice & Passive Voice.
Active Voice
When the subject is the doer of the action, it is called active voice. In the following sentence, Ricky is the doer of the action kick. So, kicks is in the active voice.
| Doer of Action | Active Verb | Receiver of Action |
| Ricky | kicks | the ball. |
Passive Voice
When the subject is the receiver of the action, it is called passive voice. In the following sentence, 'The ball' is the receiver of the action 'kick'. So, is kicked is in the passive voice.
| Receiver of Action | Passive Verb | Doer of Action |
| The ball | is kicked | by Ricky. |
What is Passive Voice?
Passive voice is the verb like be verb + past participle.
Radio was invented by Marcony.
America was discovered by Colombus.
Rice is grown by farmers.
The house will be sold.
Changing Active to Passive
General Rules.
Rule-1: The object of an active verb becomes the subject of the passive.
Rule-2: The subject of the active verb becomes the object of the passive and it is placed after the preposition 'by'.
Rule-3: The main verb is made 'past participle' and an extra be verb is placed before the past participle. The following table shows which be verb we use for which avtive verb form.
| Active | > | Passive |
| I eat rice. | > | Rice is eaten by me. |
| I ate rice. | > | Rice was eaten by me. |
| I am eating rice. | > | Rice is being eaten by me. |
| I have eaten rice. | > | Rice has been eaten by me. |
| I shall eat rice. | > | Rice will be eaten by me. |
Grammar Explanation
(i) if the main verb is in the present form, we use the present form of be verb (am, is, are).
(ii) if the main verb is in the past form, we use the past form of be verb (was, were).
(iii) if the main verb is in the past participle form, we use the past participle form of be verb (been).
(iv) if the main verb is in the present participle form, we use the present participle form of be verb (being).
(v) if the main verb is in the base form, we use the base form of be verb (be).
Now we are going to change some active sentences into passive. Rules of changing active to passive is repeated here in an elaborated form for better understanding.
1. Simple Present
Rule-1: If the main verb is in its present form, we use am/ is/ are + past participle of the main verb in the passive voice.
(a) Active: I eat rice.
Passive: Rice is eaten by me.
(b) Active: God loves us.
Passive: We are loved by God.
Turn into passive. (a) Bob draws a picture. (b) He likes you. (c) People in Asia eat rice. (d) Fortune favours the brave. (e) Cats kill mice.
2. Simple Past
Rule: If the main verb is in its past form, we use was/ were + past participle of the main verb in the passive voice.
(a) Active: We called you.
Passive: You were called by us.
(b) Active: The teacher saw the students.
Passive: The students were seen by the teacher.
Turn into passive. (a) I ate rice. (b) My mother cooked rice. (c) The teacher did the sums. (d) He walked ten miles. (e) He did a lot of things for me.
3. Continuous Tense
Rule: If the main verb is in continuous tense, we change it into am/is/are/was/were/shall be/ willbe + being +past participle of the main verb.
(a) Active: They are flying kites.
Passive: Kites are being flown by them.
(b) Active: The fishermen were catching fish.
Passive: Fish was being caught by the fishermen.
Turn into passive. (a) I am writing a letter. (b) I was reading English. (c) The teacher will be teaching us. (d) Mini was plucking flowers. (e) He was writing a letter.
4. Perfect Tense
Rule: If the main verb is in perfect tense, we add have been/has been/ had been + past participle of the main verb.
(a) Active: I have eaten rice.
Passive: Rice has been eaten by me.
(b) Active: You will have heard my name.
Passive: My name will have been heard by you.
Turn into passive. (a) He has done the sums. (b) I have learnt my lesson. (c) They will have wanted the book. (d) I have lost my pen. (e) He has cut his finger.
5. Modal + Base Form
Rule: After modal verbs, we use be + past participle of the main verb.
(a) Active: I shall eat rice.
Passive: Rice will be eaten by me.
(b) Active: We should respect our teachers.
Passive: Our teachers should be respected by us.
Turn into passive. (a) I shall help the poor. (b) They will write a poem. (c) Cats can catch rats. (d) I would take exercise in my youth. (e) You must wear a cap.
6. Be going to + Base Form
Rule: After am going to, is going to and are going to, we use be + past participle of the main verb in the passive.
(a) Active: I am going to open a bank account.
Passive: A bank account is going to be opened by me.
(b) Active: They are going to start a business.
Passive: A business is going to be started by them.
Turn into passive. (a) I am going to do sums. (b) Father is going to set up a school. (c) They are going to open a shop. (d) He is going to do marketing. (e) Our teacher is going to give me a prize.
7. Have to + Base Form
Rule: After have to, has to and had to, we use be + past participle of the main verb in the passive.
(a) Active: You have to follow my order.
Passive: My order has to be followed by you.
(b) Active: He has to do the work.
Passive: The work has to be done by him.
Turn into passive. (a) She has to help us. (b) I have to do the work. (c) I have to do it. (d) Everybody had to follow the rules. (e) We have to change out habit.
8. Double Object
Rule: If the verb has two objects, any object can be the subject of the passive. The other object remains in its original place. The remaining object is called retained object.
(a) Active: Father gives me a watch.
Passive: I am given a watch by father.
Passive: A watch is given me by father.
(b) Active: He gave me the book.
Passive: I was given a book by him.
Passive: A book was given me by him.
Turn into passive. (a) She showed me the photo. (b) Mr. Andy teaches us English. (c) I offered him a chair. (d) Mother gave us some sweets.
9. Objective Complement
Rule: Objective complements cannot be the subject of a sentence.
(a) Active: People call him a fool.
Passive: He is called a fool by people.
(b) Active: We elected him chairman.
Passive: He was elected chairman by us.
Turn into passive. (a) We elected her our captain. (b) They made me their leader. (c) People call them traitors.
10. Dative of Interest
Rule: Dative of interest cannot be the subject of a sentence. Moreover, in passive, we put for before the dative case.
(a) Active: Jesmin plucked him a flower.
Passive: A flower was plucked for him by Jesmin.
(b) Active: Father bought me a pen.
Passive: A pen was bought for me by father.
Turn into passive. (a) She bought me a new shirt. (b) Lucy plucked him a rose.
11. Reflexive Object
Rule: Reflexive pronouns cannot be the subject of a sentence.
(a) Active: She fans herself.
Passive: She is fanned by herself.
(b) Active: He hurt himself.
Passive: He was hurt by himself.
Turn into passive. (a) He killed himself. (b) She hurt herself. (c) She fans herself. (d) The ladies fan themselves.
12. Extensions after Object
Rule: If there is additional words or phrase after the object, we keep them after the past participle of the main verb.
(a)Active: I saw the boys playing in the field.
Passive: The boys were seen playing in the field by me.
(b) Active: People think him to be an honest man.
Passive: He is thought to be an honest man.
Turn into passive. (a) He did many unnecessary things for me. (b) He advised me to take rest. (c) I saw him going across the road. (d) I know him well. (e) He caught me by the hand.
13. Bare Infinitive
Rule: The bare infinitives in the active becomes full infinitive in the passive.
(a) Active: The albatross made the wind blow. [blow =Bare Infinitive]
Passive: The wind was made to blow by the albatross. [to blow =Full Infinitive]
(b) Active: Teachers help us learn. [learn =Bare Infinitive]
Passive: We are helped to learn by teachers. [to learn =Full Infinitive]
Turn into passive. (a) I heard my sister sing a song. (b) He made me do the work. (c) The teacher made me do the sum. (d) We heard her sing. (e) He made me drive his car.
14. Infinitive as Object
Rule: If the active verb has infinitive as object, we generally use it as the subject in passive.
(a) Active: He wants to help the country.
Passive: It is wanted by him to help the country.
(b) Active: We agreed to go there.
Passive: It was agreed by us to go there.
Turn into passive. (a) He wants to help the country. (b) We agreed to go there. (c) I like to take fresh milk. (d) He decided to sell the house.
15. Quasi-passive
Rule: Some verbs are active in form but passive in meaning. They are changed into passive voice in the following way.
(a) Active: The book reads well.
Passive: The book is well when it is read.
Passive: The book is read well.
(b) Active: Honey tastes sweet.
Passive: Honey is sweet when it is tasted.
Passive: Honey is tasted sweet.
Turn into passive. (a) My pen writes well. (b) The green mangoes did not taste sweet. (c) The book is printing. (d) The mangoes do not taste sweet. (e) The book reads easy.