Active Voice and Passive Voice
A verb is said to be in the Active Voice, when the person or the thing denoted by its subject acts.
Ex: He killed a snake.
She is drawing a picture.
He will sing a song.
When the subject of the verb is acted upon, the verb is said to be in Passive Voice.
Ex: A snake was killed by him.
A picture is being drawn by her.
A song will be sung by him.
Only a transitive verb can be used in the Passive Voice because an intransitive verb either has no object or doesn't need an object. Most common formula to express voice is.
A.V: Raju finished the work
P.V: The work was finished by Raju.
Uses of the Passive Voice
1. To emphasize the object; as
Mr. Rao was made referee
Vishal was elected the president of the union.
2. When the doer of an action is rather too obvious to be worth mentioning or is vaguely known; as
We were given a test in Maths yesterday.
The battle was fought last year
3. In order to avoid awkwardness in the expression.
P.V: The function was organised very decently.
A.V: The organisers organised the function very decently.
Important Rules
1. There is no Passive Voice of verbs in Perfect Continuous forms in all three tenses and future continuous tense.
2. Some changes in pronouns can be listed as:
I-me, we-us, you-you,
he-him she-her, it-it
they-them,
3. Sometimes while changing a sen tence into Passive Voice the agent or the subject is omitted as per its importance.
I. Present Indefinite Tense
1. AV: I drink tea.
PV: Tea is drunk by me.
2. AV: She does not eat rice.
PV: Rice is not eaten by her.
II. Present Continuous Tense
1. AV: I am reading a book.
PV: A book is being read by me.
2. AV: You are neglecting me.
PV: I am being neglected by you.
III. Present Perfect Tense
1. AV: I have finished the work.
PV: The work has been finished by me.
2. AV:We have eaten the fruit.
PV: The fruit has been eaten by us.
IV. Past Indefinite Tense
1. AV: She wrote a novel.
PV: A novel was written by her.
2. AV: Rani saved the dog.
PV: The dog was saved by Rani.
V. Past Continuous Tense
1. AV:She was writing a short story. PV:A short story was being
written by her.
2. AV: Miss. Anitha was making
new bangles.
PV: New bangles were being
made by Miss. Anitha.
VI. Past Perfect Tense
1. AV: I had consulted him many
times.
PV: He had been consulted by
me many times.
2. AV: We had served the food.
PV: The food had been served
by us.
VII. Future Indefinite Tense
1. AV: I will see you tomorrow.
PV: You will be seen by me
tomorrow.
2. AV: We will meet him at any cost.
PV: He will be met by us at any
cost.
VIII. Future Perfect Tense
1. AV: I shall have read all these
books by the end of the year.
PV: All these books shall have
been read by me by the end
of the year.
2. AV: She will have finished the
work by them.
PV: The work will have been
finished by them by her.
