Page 54 - Basic English Grammar Student Textbook short

3. The woman the books on the librarian’s desk.

4. The stage crew has the chairs on the platform.
5. Let’s down on the bench and watch the animals.

Active Voice / Passive Voice Verbs

As already stated, a verb expressing an action directed toward a person or thing is said to be transitive.

All transitive verbs have voice. There are two voices: active and passive.

MAIN VERBS
Action Verbs Linking Verbs
Transitive Intransitive
Active Passive No Voice
Voice Voice

Active Voice

The active voice is the normal voice.

NOTE!!! When speaking and writing, use the active voice when possible and necessary.

The verb has active voice when the subject of the sentence performs the action (the subject is the doer), and
the direct object receives the action.
In the active voice, the direct object receives the action of the verb:

God saves people.

Passive Voice
The passive voice is less usual. A passive voice verb is a verb phrase that uses a form of “be” with a past form
of an action verb. The subject now receives the action of the verb; the previous subject now becomes the
object of the preposition.
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.

People are saved by God.

1. Notice above that the acting agent (the doer) is now the object of a preposition (by).
2. Notice above that the verb now contains a form of the verb “be” (am, is, are, was, were, be, being,
been) plus the past participle of the main verb. (The helping verb depends on the tense and must agree
with its subject in number – singular or plural.)

Practice 10E: Active and Passive Voice. For the sentences below, re-write the sentences so active voice
verbs become passive, and passive voice verbs become active. The first sentence has been rewritten for you
as an example.

1. The boy hit the dog.
The dog was hit by the boy.

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