Active and passive voice

Level: beginner

Transitive verbs have both active and passive forms:

Active	Passive
The hunter killed* the lion.*	The lion was killed* by the hunter.*
Someone has cleaned* the windows.*	The windows have been cleaned.

Passive forms are made up of the verb be with a past participle:

Subject	be	Past participle	Adverbial
English	is	*spoken*	all over the world.
The windows	*have been*	*cleaned*.
Lunch	*was being*	*served*.
The work	*will be*	*finished*	soon.
They	*might have been*	*invited*	to the party.

If we want to show the person or thing doing the action, we use by:

She was attacked by a dangerous dog.
The money was stolen by her husband.

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Level: intermediate

The passive infinitive is made up of to be with a past participle:

The doors are going to be locked at ten o'clock.
You shouldn't have done that. You ought to be punished.

We sometimes use the verb get with a past participle to form the passive:

Be careful with that glass. It might get broken.
Peter got hurt in a crash.

We can use the indirect object as the subject of a passive verb:

Active	Passive
I gave him* a book for his birthday.*	He was given a book for his birthday.
Someone sent her* a cheque for a thousand euros.*	She was sent a cheque for a thousand euros.

We can use phrasal verbs in the passive:

Active	Passive
They called off* the meeting.*	The meeting was called off.
His grandmother looked after* him.*	He was looked after* by his grandmother.*
They will send* him away to school.*	He will be sent* away to school.*

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Level: advanced

Some verbs which are very frequently used in the passive are followed by the to-infinitive:

be supposed to	be expected to	be asked to	be told to
be scheduled to	be allowed to	be invited to	be ordered to

John has been asked to make a speech at the meeting.
You are supposed to wear a uniform.
The meeting is scheduled to start at seven.

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Average

Hello Rsb,

Those sentences are not passive in any way. The fact the subject is inanimate does not change the active voice nature of the verbs.

Quasi-passive is not a term that is used in traditional grammar study and it is not universally accepted by grammarians. It describes forms which are ambiguous in terms of whether they are a passive form or an adjectival (past participle) form.

For example:

The window was broken.

This could be a passive construction (...by the boy) or simply be + adjective (...but it isn't any more). Some use the term quasi-passive to describe this; personally, I don't find it a useful concept.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Sir, "It should be destroyed." Could this be a passive construction (...by the boy) or simply be + adjective?

Hello again Rsb,

It could be either. It's impossible to say without knowing the context.

If you are talking about what you expect the current situation to be, then it would probably be an adjective:

It should be destroyed. (because there was an earthquake/because that was the plan etc)

On the other hand, if you are talking about the future and giving advice then it would be a passive form:

It should be destroyed. (before it's too late/while we are able/before it collapses)

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thanks again sir! The cake smells good. The car looks nice. Here smell and look are stative verb as it is describing the state of the subject(cake and car)? Am I thinking correct?

Hello. How can I write these sentences in the active voice? 1. A lot of coffee is grown in Brazil. 2. The world's highest mountains are found in the Himalayas. Can I say? 1. It grows a lot of coffee in Brazil. 2. It finds the world's highest mountains in the Himalayas. If yes, are these phrases often used? Thank you for the help!

Hello Juliana,

No, you can't rephrase in that way. You need to introduce the implied subject:

People grow a lot of coffee in Brazil.

We find the world's highest mountains in the Himalayas.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Is "love" as in "I love this" a stative verb? Can a stative verb be transitive? In "I love this", is love a transitive verb and "this" the object of the transitive verb "love"?

Hello magnuslin,

Yes, 'love' is a stative verb here, and it is also transitive (with 'this' as its object), as are many other stative verbs.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Sir, Sir I have a great confusion regarding the use of HOW word before an infinitive( specially the verbs after to like "learn, swim, know, teach etc.. ") For example 1) He don't know to swim. 2) He don't know how to swim. We know that the 1st one is incorrect and the 2nd one is correct. I want to know why we use "HOW" before an infinitive. What type of meaning does it convey. Please.

Hello Kapil Kabir

We use 'how' + infinitive to speak about skills. So you can say, for example, 'He knows how to cook', 'She knows how to swim', 'They know how to play billiards'.

Note that in your two sentences, 'don't' should be 'doesn't'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you so much sir..

which part of speech is it? by hunter

Hello lella123

As far as I can tell, 'hunter' is a noun and 'by' is a preposition used to indicate the agent. It'd be useful to see the whole sentence and its context.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Could you please explain how can I make this sentence "Trump exits press conference after being challenged by female reporters" into active? I am so confused

Hello Dukul

The first verb form ('exits') is already active; the second one ('being challenged') is passive. To make it active, the agent of the passive verb form ('female reporters') should become the subject of the verb: 'after female reporters challenged him'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, On the website"Peter got hurt in a crash" is given as example of passive voice. What will be its active form? Hasn't "hurt"been used as Participle adjective here. Thanks

Hello Bharati,

The disinction between passive voice and participle adjectives is often a hard one to make.

Some grammars finesse the issue by proposing various kinds of not-quite-true passive form. You can see an example of this here:

https://www.englishforums.com/English/AdjectiveOrPartOfAPassive/znxqp/post.htm#sc485871

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello sir. I have a doubt, regarding the use of 'get' verb Sometimes it acts linking verb and sometimes it acts causative verb. For these examples 1) The father got his daughter married. 2) The father got his daughter marry. Which one is correct between these two sentences ? If we assume get as a causative verb it takes Bare infinitive according to that marry verb is right here. But I have discussed many teachers for that question they say that 'get' verb always follows a past participle. Please clarify this sir.

Hello Kapil Kabir,

The correct form here is the past participle. Get is never used with the bare infinitive in this way and get someone marry is not a correct formulation.

Causative verbs are followed by the past participle: get something done, have something done etc.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Sir, If we write The father got his son to marry. Is it correct ?

Hello Kapil Kabir

Yes, in informal situations this is fine if 'get' means 'persuade' (see the fifth entry). In a less informal situation, you could say 'The father convinced his son to marry.'

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear Sir, If you kindly write down in a sentence that why we use passive?

Hello Ajmeer Safi

Our Passives page explains this in some detail. Since I can't summarise it any better than what's there, please have a look. You're welcome to ask us any questions you may have there.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello I want to know what is difference between active and passive voice

Hello Mohammad Ghm,

We can think of a sentence in which we have three elements:

the person or thing doing the action (the subjet)
the action (the verb)
the person or thing who is acted upon (the object)

For example:

The dog bit the boy.

Here, our elements are

the dog
bit
the boy

This is active voice.

We can change the sentence so that we start with the boy - the person or thing acted upon:

The boy was bitten (by the dog).

Now we have passive voice. The object of the original sentence (the dog) is used as the subject of the verb, using [be + past participle (was bitten)]. We can include the person or thing doing the action or we can omit it if we prefer.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you for your examples. Now I know the difference Mohammad Ghm

I want to know whether the following is acceptable in voice For grandfather John painted a fence.

Hello Poonam80,

I think the word order needs to be changed:

John painted a fence for his/my/your grandfather.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear sir, I have a doubt when I create this active sentence. John fed his dog. Which sentence is correct? His dog was fed by John or The dog was fed by John.

Hello chandana jayamaha,

Both options are possible grammatically, but both are inherently ambiguous without any further context. The second sentence is probably better as the first implies that there is a 'he' who is not John and is the owner of the dog.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear sir, In passive voice, we will use BY + AGENT (the 'doer') if we want to emphasize the doer, and we can omit it if the doer of the verb is not important or not known or if we do not want to say who the doer is. Somebody said to me that "by them" is not allowed to use in passive voice. I am really confused. Could you please explain to me whether using "by them" is correct or incorrect? Thank you so much and have a good day sir!

Hello 12nguyenhien

Your summary of agents in the passive is good. Perhaps there are some specific situations where it would not be correct, but in general, 'by them' works as an agent in a passive construction.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello dear team, Is the following sentence true: (Teachers, like all other employees, would like to be given the opportunity and space to work and recognition in matters and administration) Thanks a lot

Hello Hosseinpour

That is grammatically correct, though the end of the sentence isn't completely clear to me. I don't understand what 'recognition in matters and administration' means.

Hope this helps.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello. What is the difference between the two verb forms ? I had a technician check our old television set. I had a technician checking our old television set. Thank you.

Hello Ahmed Imam

In the first, you say that you arranged for the technician to come and she checked the TV. In the second one, you're speaking about a specific time in the past, and at the time, the technician was checking your TV.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Why do I refuse to be interviewed ? ( Change the voice) would you please help me with answer including explanation ) ?

Hello Ramesh

Maybe 'Why do I refuse to interview her?' I'd recommend you ask your teacher.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear sir, I found this question in the TOEIC textbook and found it hard to choose the correct answer. I think it would be helpful for everyone so I posted here: "For some time, we allowed sales reps to pay for their car rentals up front with their personal cards or cash and then be reimbursed later. This is no longer the policy. As of June 15, all payments for rentals were supposed to have………..…….with the company card that was assigned to each of you." A. making B.to be made C.makes D.been made I opted for D but the answer is B. Can you explain it for me? Thankyou so much. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon ^^

Hello Quynh Nhu,

In my opinion option D is the best and correct answer. Option B does not strike me as a natural formulation. If have to (obligation) is required then we would not use suppose here:

...all payments [...] were supposed to have been made...

...all payments [...] had to be made...

Alternatively, you could use a present form as the situation is still current:

...all payments [...] have to be made...

Generally, we comment on the material on our own pages and not on material from other publications. If you need an explanation of any particular question then the book's publisher is the place to go, as they are responsible for their publications.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thankyou, Peter. You've made it very clear to me. I appreciate your work. Have a nice weekend^^

Good day, To my understanding the answer should be B. At first I opted for D however B makes more sense. To explain, in the statement, the words are being directed towards the employees of a car rental company right? So the speaker of the statement said that prior to June 15th they were allowed to pay with either cash or personal cards then be reimbursed afterwards, however, from June 15th onwards, that should have been stopped, but the employees did not follow the new policy. In the article above it says the intermediate level of the passive voice uses the infinitive plus the past participle which seems to be used in this case. Recall that it's the action where the emphasis lies rather than the doer of the action. So I believe that for emphasis 'B' would be the answer rather than 'D' because, (to be made) more emphasizes the action, meanwhile, (been made) more adds emphasis to the doer(s) of the action. Option 'B' also implies that in future they will be expected to follow policy and there may be consequences if it isn't followed. Similar to the example in the intermediate level. To me it seems the speaker is more upset with the fact that the action was not done rather than who did not do the action. Thus, making the correct answer to be 'B'. Hence the reason this statement was being directed to them in the first place in order to emphasize that they did not do the right act or in other words breeching company policy. This is all of my opinion and interpretation.

Dear sir, please explain the answer. I opted for option B. But our teacher says it will be option D. Please explain the passive - It is impossible to do this. A. Doing this is impossible B. This is impossible to be done C. This must not be done D. This can’t be done

Hello Pratapsingh

The best person to ask this is your teacher! B is not correct in standard British English. The other options are, but the closest in meaning is probably D.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

what will be the passive of 1) Please do the work 2) Tell him to go 3)Do away with it

Hello mourin,

These are all imperative sentences and generally we use 'let... be...' to make passive forms of these sentences. I'll show you how to change one of the sentences, and if you want to change the others yourself we'll be happy to tell you if you did it correctly.

Do away with it >>> Let it be done away with.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

please tell me whether I'm correct or not: 1)Let the work be done 2)Let him be gone by telling him and THANKS for the help

Hello mourin

1 is grammatically correct, but 2 is quite strange because we don't normally use 'by' with a third-person imperative. I don't really understand what 2 means.

In any case, please note that these forms are quite unusual in everyday English nowadays.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Is it grammatically correct to say: (I know who is going to be our new head of department but I've been asked not to tell anyone.) instead of (I know who our new head of department is going to be but I've been asked not to tell anyone).

Hello mousab7

Yes, that is correct, though if I were writing this, I would choose the second option over the first one.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Active and passive voice

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