Who/what is the “receiver” of this sentence?.Who/what is the “actor” of this sentence?.To shift sentences from passive to active voice, ask yourself PASSIVE: The bridge was being repaired by zombies. Having trouble identifying if your sentence is passive? If you can add “by zombies” after the verb in your sentence, it is probably passive voice. The students were asked to participate by the Chancellor. Passive Voice:įocuses on who/what is receiving the action The Chancellor asked the students to participate. In passive voice, the sentence structure is nearly inverse, with the receiver at the beginning, the actor at the end, and a “to be” verb (was, were, etc.) with an action verb in between. Active voice as a way of structuring sentences places the “actor” of a sentence at the beginning, and the “receiver” of the action at the end, with the verb between them.

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.In academic contexts, active voice is often preferred over passive voice because it achieves clear, concise, and interesting writing. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped). The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence the verb of perception is put into passive voice. – Women are said to live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.Īlthough Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.Įxample: They say that women live longer than men. say, think, know).Įxample: They say that women live longer than men. In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception ( e. g. Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive. Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.Įxample: They build houses. Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.Īs you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Passive Sentences with Two Objects Level: intermediate the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)Įxamples of Passive Level: lower intermediate TenseĮxamples of Passive Level: upper intermediate Tense.the finite form of the verb is changed ( to be + past participle).the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following: Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Active voice passive voice