Active voice and Passive voice is very important topic in General English section of various competitive exams. Candidates can easily answer active voice passive voice questions by learning some rules.
Active Voice:
Active voice is a direct statement the active voice, in a sentence, denotes that the noun or pronoun that acts as the subject in the sentence is the doer of the action. In other words, the subject performs the action or acts upon the verb.
Active Voice – Subject + Verb1 + Object
Passive Voice:
The passive voice, on the other hand, represents that the subject is one acted upon by the action or verb in the sentence. It can also be said that the passive voice indicates that the subject in the sentence is passive.
Passive Voice – Object + Verb3 + Subject
Rules Of Conversion To Active Voice
In the following rules of conversion, S means Subject, V1 means first Verb form, V3 means the third form of Verb, and O means Object.
Active Voice Rules For
Simple Present Tense :
Conversion from active to passive
- S + V1+s/es+ O -> O+ is/am/are+ V3+ by + subject
- S + Do/does+ not + V1 + O -> O + is/am/are+ not + V3+ by S
- Does+ S+ V1+O+? -> is/am/are+ O + V3+ by S + ?
Examples:
- I watch movie (Active)
- Movie is watched by me (Passive)
Present Continuous Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + is/am/are+ v1+ ing+ O -> O+ is/am/are+ being+ V3+by + S
- S + is/am/are+ not+ v1+ing+ O -> O+is/am/are+not+being+v3+by + S
- Is/am/are+ S+v1+ing + O+? -> Is/am/are + O +V3+by S+?
Example:
- I am watching movie (Active)
- Movie is being watched by me (Passive)
Present Perfect Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + has/have+ v3+ ing+ O -> O+ has/have+ being+ V3+by + S
- S + has/have+ not+ v3+ing+ O -> O+ has/have+not+being+v3+by + S
- has/have+ S+v3 + O+? -> has/have + O +V3+by S+?
Example:
- I have watched movie (Active)
- Movie has been watched by me (Passive)
Simple Past Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + V2 + O -> O+ was/were + V3+ by + subject
- S +did+ not + V1 + O -> O + was/were + not + V3+ by S
- Did+ S+ V1+O+? -> was/were + O + V3+ by S +?
Example:
- I watched movie (Active)
- movie was watched by me (Passive)
Past Continuous Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + was/were+ v1+ ing+ O -> O+ was/were + being+ V3+by + S
- S + was/were + not+ v1+ing+ O -> O+ was/were +not+being+v3+by + S
- was/were + S+v1+ing + O+? -> was/were + O +V3+by S+?
Example:
- I was watching movie (Active)
- Movie was being watched by me (Passive)
Past Perfect Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + had+ v3+ ing+ O -> O+ had + been+ V3+by + S
- S + had + not+ v3+ing+ O -> O+ had +not+been+v3+by + S
- had + S+v3 + O+? -> had + O + been +V3+by S+?
Example:
- I had watched movie (Active)
- Movie had been watched by me (Passive)
Simple Future Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S +will+V1+ O -> O+ will + be + V3+ by + subject
- S +will + not + V1 + O -> O + will+ not +be+ V3+ by S
- Will+ S+ V1+O+? -> Will+ O +be+ V3+ by S + ?
Examples:
- I will watch movie (Active)
- Movie will be watched by me (Passive)
Future Perfect Tense:
Conversion from active to passive
- S + will + have + v3+ ing+ O -> O+ had + been+ V3+by + S
- S + will+ have+ not+ v3+ing+ O -> O+ will +not+been+v3+by + S
- Will + S+ have+v3+ O+? -> had + O + have+been +V3+by S+?
Example:
- I have watched movie (Active)
- Movie has been watched by me (Passive)
Rules for Active – Passive Voice Conversions
Rule 1. Identify the (S+V+O) Subject, Verb and object in the active sentence to convert to passive voice
Rule 2. Interchange the object and subject with each other, i.e. object of the active sentence become the subject of the passive sentence.
Rule 3. In passive voice sometimes the subject is not used, i.e. the subject in passive voice can be omitted if the sentence without it gives enough meaning.
Rule 4. Change the base verb in the active sentence into the past participle ie. third form verb in a passive sentence i.e. preceded by (By, With, to, etc). Base verbs are never used in passive voice sentences.
Example:
- Active voice: He knows her.
- Passive voice: She is known to him.
Rule 5. While conversion of Active voice sentence to Passive voice sentence, the pronoun used in the sentence also changes in the following manner.(I=Me, We=Us, He=Him, She=Her, They=Them, You=You, It=It)
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