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Can you tell if sentences are in the passive voice? Testing for passive voice is easy.

Simply draw an arrow from the verb (or, in the case of many passive voice
constructions the "verb phrase") in the sentence to the direct object. In doing so, if

you draw a backwards-facing arrow (towards the subject), then the sentence is in

passive voice. If, in doing so, you draw a forwards-facing arrow (towards the
predicate), then the sentence is in active voice. Consider the following example.

Passive Voice Active Voice
The dog was hit by the car. The car hit the dog.

The verb (or, in the case of "was hit," the "verb phrase") is highlighted in red. The
direct object (the thing in a sentence that is being acted upon) is highlighted in yellow.

If you draw an arrow from the verb/verb phrase to the direct object, which direction

would you go? For the first sentence, you would have to go backwards—it's passive!
For the second sentence, you would have to go forwards—it's active!

Hint: You probably know that a verb is the action word of a sentence.
But, did you know that sometimes a verb is more than one word?

When this is the case, we refer to it as a verb phrase. A verb

phrase is used to describe the action in a sentence when it involves
more than one word, which is usually a conjugation of the verb

"to be" or "to have" (am, is, are, were, have, etc.) and either a past
participle (hid, sat, jumped, sold, etc.) or a gerund (singing, laughing,

selling, jumping, etc.)

Just remember, a direct object is the part of a sentence that is being acted upon, or

a complement that completes the reader's understanding of a verb or verb phrase.

An indirect object is to whom/what or for whom/what the direct object is directed or
intended. So, in the example, "The dog was hit by the car," "the car" is the indirect

object. To identify a direct object, you should first read the verb or verb phrase. In

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