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Writer's pictureFakhruddin Babar

Voice Change Basic Rules

Voice

Voice in grammar shows whether the subject of a sentence is doing the action or receiving the action.

  • Active Voice: The subject performs the action.

  • Passive Voice: The subject receives the action.

Understanding Active and Passive Voice

  1. Active Voice: The subject does the action.

    • Example: She (subject) reads (verb) a book (object).

    • Here, "she" is doing the action of reading.

  2. Passive Voice: The action is done to the subject.

    • Example: A book (subject) is read (verb) by her (agent).

    • In this case, the book is receiving the action of being read.


Identifying Objects

In active voice sentences, objects usually follow the verb:

  • Example: He (subject) eats (verb) an apple (object).

Sometimes, there are two objects:

  • Example: She (subject) gives (verb) me (indirect object) a gift (direct object).

    • Here, "me" is the indirect object because it tells who is receiving the gift, while "a gift" is the direct object because it is what is being given.

Note: If there’s a preposition before one of the objects, that object cannot be the subject in the passive voice.

  • Example: The teacher (subject) explains (verb) the lesson (direct object) to us (prepositional object).

  • Passive: The lesson (subject) is explained (verb) to us (prepositional object) by the teacher (agent).


Rules for Changing Active Voice to Passive Voice

To change a sentence from active voice to passive voice, follow these steps:

  1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

    • Active: The dog (object) chased (verb) the cat (subject).

    • Passive: The cat (new subject) was chased (verb) by the dog (agent).

  2. The subject of the active sentence becomes the object in the passive sentence.

  3. Use an auxiliary (helping) verb that matches the tense (past, present, etc.) and the subject’s number (singular or plural).

    • Example:

      • Active: They (subject) play (verb) the game (object).

      • Passive: The game (subject) is played (auxiliary verb + past participle) by them (object).

  4. Use the past participle form of the main verb.

  5. Add "by" before the original subject in the passive voice.

Subject and Object Pronouns

When changing from active to passive, remember these pronouns:

Subject

Object

I

me

We

us

You

you

They

them

He

him

She

her

Rahim, Karim

Rahim, Karim

Forming the Passive Voice

In passive voice, we focus on the action being done to the subject rather than who is doing it. The structure is formed using an auxiliary (helping) verb + the past participle of the main verb.

Examples of Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice

Passive Voice

Simple Present: He eats rice.

Rice is eaten by him.

Present Continuous: He is eating rice.

Rice is being eaten by him.

Present Perfect: He has eaten rice.

Rice has been eaten by him.

Simple Past: He ate rice.

Rice was eaten by him.

Past Continuous: He was eating rice.

Rice was being eaten by him.

Past Perfect: He had eaten rice.

Rice had been eaten by him.

Simple Future: He will eat rice.

Rice will be eaten by him.

Future Continuous: He will be eating rice.

Rice will be being eaten by him.

Future Perfect: He will have eaten rice.

Rice will have been eaten by him.

1.Rules for Using Auxiliary Verbs in Passive Voice

  1. Present Indefinite:

    • Active: I eat. → Passive: I am eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: am, is, are.

  2. Past Indefinite:

    • Active: I ate. → Passive: I was eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: was, were.

  3. Future Indefinite:

    • Active: I will eat. → Passive: I will be eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall be, will be.

Specific Forms for Different Tenses

(A) Present Continuous

  • Active: I am eating. → Passive: I am being eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: am being, is being, are being.

(B) Past Continuous

  • Active: I was eating. → Passive: I was being eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: was being, were being.

(C) Future Continuous

  • Active: I will be eating. → Passive: I will be being eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall be being, will be being.

(D) Present Perfect

  • Active: I have eaten. → Passive: I have been eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: has been, have been.

(E) Past Perfect

  • Active: I had eaten. → Passive: I had been eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verb: had been.

(F) Future Perfect

  • Active: I will have eaten. → Passive: I will have been eaten.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall have been, will have been.

Steps to Change from Active to Passive Voice

  1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

  2. Use the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb.

  3. Add the past participle form of the main verb.

  4. Include "by" before the original subject (now the agent).

Examples of Transforming Active to Passive Voice

  1. Active: He eats rice.Passive: Rice is eaten by him.

  2. Active: He is eating rice.Passive: Rice is being eaten by him.

  3. Active: He has eaten rice.Passive: Rice has been eaten by him.

Notes on Using Auxiliary Verbs

  • Use "am" with I.

  • Use "is" with he, she, it, and singular subjects.

  • Use "are" with we, you, they, and plural subjects.

  • For past tense, use "was" with singular subjects and "were" with plural subjects.


2.Forming the Passive Voice

In passive voice, we emphasize the action being done to the subject rather than who is doing it. The structure consists of an auxiliary (helping) verb + the past participle of the main verb.

Examples of Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice

Passive Voice

Simple Present: She writes a letter.

A letter is written by her.

Present Continuous: They are playing soccer.

Soccer is being played by them.

Present Perfect: He has completed the project.

The project has been completed by him.

Simple Past: The chef prepared a meal.

A meal was prepared by the chef.

Past Continuous: The kids were watching a movie.

A movie was being watched by the kids.

Past Perfect: She had finished her homework.

Her homework had been finished by her.

Simple Future: We will visit the museum.

The museum will be visited by us.

Future Continuous: I will be studying tonight.

Tonight, studying will be happening by me.

Future Perfect: They will have solved the problem.

The problem will have been solved by them.

  1. Rules for Using Auxiliary Verbs in Passive Voice




  1. Present Indefinite:

    • Active: They help others. → Passive: Others are helped by them.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: am, is, are.

  2. Past Indefinite:

    • Active: She painted the fence. → Passive: The fence was painted by her.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: was, were.

  3. Future Indefinite:

    • Active: He will write a report. → Passive: A report will be written by him.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall be, will be.

4.Present Continuous

  • Active: They are cleaning the house. → Passive: The house is being cleaned by them.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: am being, is being, are being.

5 Past Continuous

  • Active: I was reading a book. → Passive: A book was being read by me.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: was being, were being.

6.Future Continuous

  • Active: We will be traveling next week. → Passive: Traveling will be happening by us next week.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall be being, will be being.

7. Present Perfect

  • Active: He has repaired the car. → Passive: The car has been repaired by him.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: has been, have been.

8.Past Perfect

  • Active: They had delivered the package. → Passive: The package had been delivered by them.

    • Auxiliary Verb: had been.

9. Future Perfect

  • Active: She will have finished her essay. → Passive: Her essay will have been finished by her.

    • Auxiliary Verbs: shall have been, will have been.


Steps to Change from Active to Passive Voice

  1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

  2. Use the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb.

  3. Add the past participle form of the main verb.

  4. Include "by" before the original subject (now the agent).

Examples of Transforming Active to Passive Voice

  1. Active: They clean the room.Passive: The room is cleaned by them.

  2. Active: She is baking a cake.Passive: A cake is being baked by her.

  3. Active: He has written a story.Passive: A story has been written by him.

Notes on Using Auxiliary Verbs

  • Use "am" with I.

  • Use "is" with he, she, it, and singular subjects.

  • Use "are" with we, you, they, and plural subjects.

  • For past tense, use "was" with singular subjects and "were" with plural subjects.



4. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Simple Past Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use was or were (depending on the subject).

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

  5. The original subject becomes the agent.

Note: Use were with plural subjects and was with singular subjects.

  • Active: She wrote a book.


    Passive: A book was written by her.

5. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Past Continuous Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use was being or were being.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add the agent after by.

Note: Use was being for singular subjects and were being for plural subjects.

  • Active: They were making a cake.


    Passive: A cake was being made by them.

6. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Past Perfect Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use had been.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

  5. Active: She had solved the puzzle.


    Passive: The puzzle had been solved by her.

7. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Simple Future Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use will be or shall be.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

Note: Use shall be with I and we; use will be with others.

  • Active: He will finish the report.


    Passive: The report will be finished by him.

8. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Future Continuous Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use will be being or shall be being.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

  5. Active: She will be cleaning the room.


    Passive: The room will be being cleaned by her.

9. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Future Perfect Tense

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use will have been or shall have been.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

  5. Active: They will have completed the project.


    Passive: The project will have been completed by them.



10. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Modal Verbs (can, could, may, might, must, ought to)

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use the given modal verb.

  3. Add be.

  4. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  5. Add by.

  6. Active: She can paint the house.Passive: The house can be painted by her.

  7. Active: He might help us.Passive: We might be helped by him.

11. Changing Active to Passive Voice: "Going to" Structure

Rules:

  1. The object becomes the subject.

  2. Use the appropriate auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Add going to.

  4. Add be.

  5. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  6. Add by.

  7. Active: They are going to open a restaurant.


    Passive: A restaurant is going to be opened by them.


12 Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences with Double Objects

Rules:

  1. One of the two objects becomes the subject.

  2. Use the auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. The retained object remains as the object.

  5. Add by.

  6. The original subject becomes the agent.

Note: It is often better to make the indirect object the subject in passive voice.

  • Active: The teacher taught us a lesson.


    Passive: We were taught a lesson by the teacher.


    Or, A lesson was taught to us by the teacher.

13.Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences with Reflexive Pronouns

Rules:

  1. The subject of the active voice remains the subject in the passive.

  2. Use the auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb.

  4. Add by.

  5. Use the given reflexive pronoun.

Reflexive Pronouns: myself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves, yourself, yourselves.

  • Active: She taught herself.


    Passive: She was taught by herself.

14.Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences with Factitive Objects

Rules:

  1. The first object becomes the subject.

  2. Use the auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Use the past participle form of the main verb.

  4. Add the factitive object.

  5. Add by.

  6. The original subject becomes the agent.

Note: Some verbs like make, elect, and name require a second object for complete meaning.

  • Active: They elected him president.


    Passive: He was elected president by them.

15. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences with Intransitive Verbs

Note: Intransitive verbs usually cannot be made passive. However, if they have a preposition that forms a transitive meaning, they can be changed.

Rules:

  1. The first object becomes the subject.

  2. Use the auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Use the past participle form of the verb with the preposition.

  4. Add by.

  5. The original subject becomes the agent.

  6. Active: She looks after the pets.


    Passive: The pets are looked after by her.

16. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences with "People Say"

Rules: Use it is said instead of people say, while keeping the rest of the sentence the same.

  • Active: People say the earth revolves around the sun.


    Passive: It is said that the earth revolves around the sun.

17. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Certain Verbs (need, bid, make, etc.)

Rules:

  1. The first object becomes the subject.

  2. Use the auxiliary verb according to the tense and person.

  3. Use the past participle form of the first verb.

  4. Add to.

  5. Use the second verb.

  6. Add by.

  7. The original subject becomes the agent.

Note: Prepositions like at, on, or with can replace by.

  • Active: He let me leave early.


    Passive: I was allowed to leave early by him.

  • Active: They considered her a genius.


    Passive: She was considered a genius by them.

18. Changing Active to Passive Voice: Sentences Beginning with "One Should"

Rules:

  1. The first object becomes the subject.

  2. Use should be.

  3. Use the past participle form of the given verb.

  4. Active: One should respect others.


    Passive: Others should be respected.


Converting Assertive Sentences from Passive to Active Voice

Rules:

  1. The agent (the one performing the action) after by in the passive becomes the subject in the active.

  2. Add the auxiliary verb if necessary.

  3. Use the main verb according to the tense, number, and person.

  4. The subject of the passive becomes the object in the active.

Examples:

  • Passive: The cake is baked by her.Active: She bakes the cake.

  • Passive: The homework was completed by the students.Active: The students completed the homework.

  • Passive: The song has been sung by the choir.Active: The choir has sung the song.

  • Passive: The documents were signed by the manager.Active: The manager signed the documents.

  • Passive: The book is being read by many people.Active: Many people are reading the book.

Notes:

  • If the object remains implied in the passive, you should introduce a subject in the active according to the context of the passive.

  • Passive: The car has been washed.Active: Someone has washed the car.

  • Passive: The treasure was found.Active: Explorers found the treasure.

  • Passive: The news was reported.Active: Journalists reported the news.

  • Passive: The project had been completed.Active: The team had completed the project.


Rules for Changing Interrogative Sentences from Active to Passive Voice

1. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with Auxiliary Verbs (am, is, are, was, were, has, have, had)

  • Steps:

    1. The given auxiliary verb (according to person and number).

    2. The object becomes the subject.

    3. Use be, being, or been (according to tense).

    4. The past participle form of the main verb.

    5. by.

    6. The agent (the subject becomes the object).

    7. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: Is she reading a newspaper?Passive: Is a newspaper being read by her?

    • Active: Has he finished the report?Passive: Has the report been finished by him?

    • Active: Will they help us?Passive: Will we be helped by them?

2. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "Do/Does"

  • Steps:

    1. am/is/are.

    2. The object becomes the subject.

    3. The past participle of the main verb.

    4. by.

    5. The agent (the subject becomes the object).

    6. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: Does he play the guitar?Passive: Is the guitar played by him?

    • Active: Do they enjoy the movie?Passive: Is the movie enjoyed by them?

3. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "Did"

  • Steps:

    1. was/were.

    2. The object becomes the subject.

    3. The past participle form of the main verb.

    4. by.

    5. The agent (the subject becomes the object).

    6. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: Did they complete the task?Passive: Was the task completed by them?

    • Active: Did she win the game?Passive: Was the game won by her?

4. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "Who"

  • Steps:

    1. by whom.

    2. Auxiliary verb according to tense and person.

    3. The object becomes the subject.

    4. The past participle of the main verb.

    5. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: Who wrote this book?Passive: By whom was this book written?

    • Active: Who is calling you?Passive: By whom are you being called?

5. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "Whom"

  • Steps:

    1. who.

    2. Auxiliary verb according to tense, person, and number.

    3. be/being/been.

    4. The past participle form of the main verb.

    5. by.

    6. The agent (the subject becomes the object).

    7. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: Whom are you helping?Passive: Who is being helped by you?

    • Active: Whom did you invite to the party?Passive: Who was invited to the party by you?

6. Interrogative Sentences with Various Auxiliary Verbs (e.g., will, shall, etc.)

  • Steps:

    1. Auxiliary verb according to number and person.

    2. The agent becomes the subject.

    3. Main verb according to tense.

    4. The subject becomes the object.

    5. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Passive: Has the project been completed by you?


      Active: Have you completed the project?


Rules for Changing Interrogative Sentences from Active to Passive Voice

1. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "What"

  • Steps:

    1. What.

    2. Auxiliary verb according to tense, person, and number.

    3. be / being / been (if necessary).

    4. The past participle of the main verb.

    5. by.

    6. The agent (the subject becomes the object).

    7. Question mark.

  • Examples:

    • Active: What is he eating?Passive: What is being eaten by him?

    • Active: What have you done?Passive: What has been done by you?

    • Active: What will you buy?Passive: What will be bought by you?

2. Interrogative Sentences Beginning with "What + Noun"

  • Steps:

    1. What + noun.

    2. Auxiliary verb according to tense, person, and number.

    3. be/being/been (if necessary).

    4. The past participle form of the main verb.

    5. by.

    6. The agent (the subject becomes the object).