An active voice is a way of communicating information and expressing ideas directly by stating who has done what. By placing the subject of the sentence upfront, active sentences point the reader’s attention toward the subject.
For example:
“A dog saw its owner in the distance and ran towards him. This sentence, and perhaps the whole narrative, revolves around the dog.”
For more clarity, here are some active voice vs passive voice examples:
| Active voice | Passive voice |
| The dog runs after the cat. | The cat is run after by the dog. |
| He spilled the coffee on the floor when he heard the news. | The coffee was spilled on the floor by him when the news was heard by him. |
| The grandfather gathered the entire family for a birthday celebration. | The entire family was gathered [by the grandfather] for a birthday celebration. |
These active vs passive voice examples should hint that it doesn’t always make sense to convert active to passive. Technically speaking, the first example is correct, however, it sounds odd. Meanwhile, the second example alters the context, and it could blow up the storyline. Using an active voice is definitely a better choice in the third example since it keeps the overall idea of the author while making the sentence more engaging.
How Do You Know When To Use Active Voice
Now it’s clear that you have to be careful when you decide to change sentences from active to passive. Better to use an active voice in those cases when the sentences should be direct, concise, and clear. There should be a clear focus on the subject. You will sound more informal and friendlier if you use an active voice. Generally speaking, you should use active voice to:
- Sound informal and create a friendly atmosphere with your audience
- Craft a message that is clear and concise
- Attract attention to people or places
- Create an engaging storyline
How to Change Active Voice to Passive Voice
No matter what you’re writing, you’ll need to be able to switch voices. The key question is how to change active voice to passive voice accurately? When you change active to passive voice, the emphasis shifts from the subject (the person doing the action) to the direct object (what gets the action). To change sentences from active to passive voice, you need to figure out which tense the sentence is in. You’ll also need to find the direct object and the verb. And finally, change the format so the direct object comes first and the subject comes last.
Check out this guide for how to change sentences from active to passive voice.
- Find out which tense the sentence is in. To begin with, identify the tense of the original sentence to construct passive voice properly. As you convert the sentence from active to passive voice, it will be odd to switch from present to future. The first step to know how do you change active to passive voice is determining whether the sentence is in the past, the present, or the future, and in what form it is.
- Place the object at the beginning of the sentence. Generally, active voice sentences begin with the subject and describe what the subject does in relation to the direct object. In order to change from active voice to passive voice, move the direct object to the beginning of the sentence.
- Before the main verb, use the auxiliary verb “be”. When we add the “be” verb, the active verb becomes passive, bringing the focus to how the direct object is being acted upon rather than how the subject performs that action.
- Prefix the subject with “by”. In passive voice sentences, the subject should come at the end. For example: “The stretch of highway was paved by the construction crew.” In some cases, when the subject is unknown, you will skip the part with “by”. For example, if you have received a box but have no idea by whom it is sent, better to write, “This box was just sent to me,” without indicating by whom.
- Keep the sentence tense. When you change the sentences from active to passive voice don’t forget to put the verb in the correct tense to match the original and never remove any auxiliary verb such as “should be”, “could”, “had”. Read the passive voice sentence over to yourself to make sure it has the same sense as the former active voice sentence.
Following these steps, you will always know how to identify passive and active voice and make active to passive voice change with ease.
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