International TEFL InstituteThe Active and Passive Voices
Aside from having different tenses, verb phrases have two voices. These are the active and passive voices.
When we use the active voice, the ‘doer’ of the action is the subject of the sentence. The ‘doer’ of the action is sometimes called the agent. For example:
- Manchester University employs people. (Present simple tense)
- People in India export cars. (Present simple tense)
- The dog bit the man. (Past simple tense)
- The girl in the green dress asked the tall man to dance with her. (Past simple tense)
In the active voice the structure of the sentence is:
The subject (the “agent”) + the verb + the object
However, when we use the passive voice, the object of the sentence becomes the subject. For example:
- People are employed by Manchester University. (Present simple tense – passive voice)
- Cars are exported from India. (Present simple tense – passive voice)
- The man was bitten by the dog. (Past simple tense – passive voice)
- The tall man was asked to dance with the girl in the green dress. (Past simple tense – passive voice)
In the passive voice the structure of the sentence is this:
The subject (which is the former object, NOT the“agent”) + a form of the auxiliary verb be + past participle of the main verb
When we make active sentences passive, the focus of the sentence shifts from the agent (the original subject) to the object. In fact, the agent often becomes unimportant and is sometimes unknown. For example, look at the following sentence:
- Someone stole my car yesterday.
We don’t know who that “someone” is. Notice what happens when we use the passive -we don’t even refer to the person who stole the car. The focus is on stealing.
- My car was stolen yesterday.
Now look at the following sentence:
- People build houses using a variety of materials.
We don’t know exactly who builds houses in this sentence and it is not that important. The focus is on the building of the houses using a variety of materials, so the people who build them are not even mentioned.
- Houses are built using a variety of materials.
Passive forms are often used in quiz shows. Look at the following examples:
- The famous cathedral La Sagrada Familia is found where?
- JFK was assassinated when?
- The first man to travel to outer space was born in which country?
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