The active voice is stronger, snappier, and more direct than the passive voice. Did you also notice that those sentences sound really lame? In all of those sentences, the subject is the doer of the action. A babysitter has to be arranged for this evening. The electricity was cut off because the bill, Penicillin ______ by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Fill in the correct passive form of the verb in parentheses. Action verbs can be written in two different "voices." Active: Someone killed twenty civilians in the bomb explosion. (not send), The soundtrack of a movie _____ always _____ after the filming is finished. We can also say that they are in the active voice. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." Passive voice One can change the normal word order of many active sentences (those with a direct object) so that the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb - or passive. Look over the sentences below and notice that the subjects are not doing anything. This contrasts with active voice, in which the subject has the agentrole. Highway 15 was closed yesterday due to a serious road accident. Copyright © 2009 - 2020 Grammar Revolution. In the passive voice, the subject is the person or thing acted on or affected by the verb's action. That start-up has been sold for $5 million. When the subject of the sentence is receiving the action of the verb, the sentence is written in the passive voice. (discover), Statements ______ from all the witnesses at this moment. Note that this discussion doesn't include linking verbs. The passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb) and the object of a sentence rather than subject. The topic of active and passive only relates to action verbs, and linking verbs don't show action. You may have learned that the passive voice is weak and incorrect, but it isn’t that simple. Elizabeth O'Brien is the creator of Grammar Revolution. In contrast, the sentences "… Copyright 2020 Ginger Software | The chicken is the one doing the action in this sentence, but the chicken is not in the spot where you would expect the grammatical subject to be. My laptop was stolen. Most writing instructors and editors recommend against using the passive voice, when possible. This means that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know who or what the subject is. Many buildings were demolished by the storm. Active: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, a police officer pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket. The passive is often used to report something or to state a fact. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb – that is, the person or thing that undergoes the action or has its state changed. Many times, the doer of the action is written in a prepositional phrase (by my grandma, by the class, by the storm). I'm Elizabeth, and my goal is to get you jazzed about grammar. As such, there are many ways to change the passive voice to the active voice in your sentences. Hello! In general we tend to use the active voice. Get It makes for a murky, roundabout sentence; you can be more straightforward with active voice. That is the only thing a sentence needs in order for it to be written in the active voice, so all of those sentences are active. Let's see how much you know. They are not performing the action of the verb.
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