Practise Quizizz Lesson

Active and Passive voice

Grade 9

Compare the following two sentences. How are they different?

She called the policemen.

The policemen were called by her.

Active voice

A sentence is said to be in active voice if
the subject doing some action appears before
the verb, e.g:

John kicks the football.

The subject ` John` acts. He `kicks` the
football. This is the SVO structure.

Passive voice

A sentence is said to be in passive voice if
the object being acted upon comes first, e.g:

The football is kicked by John.

The object “The football` is acted upon. It is
passive. It `is kicked` by John. This is the
OVS structure.

Identify whether the following sentences are in active or passive voice:

1.

The East Germans put up the Berlin Wall.

2.

Reddam was beaten by Parklands at Derby Day.

3.

I did not do my homework.

4.

I will pass Grade 9.

5.

World War 2 was won by America.

Handy trick: look at the verb!

The main verb in the passive voice always has an “aux verb + participle” structure.
The main verb also helps you determine the tense of the sentence,

Changing from active to passive

1.

Identify the subject and the object of the
sentence

2.

“Swap” them around, so that the object becomes
the new subject of the sentence (it needs to
appear before the verb)

3.

Add necessary auxiliary verbs. Make sure to
keep the tense the same!

4.

Change all personal pronouns to the correct
forms.

Changing from active to passive

1.

Identify the the subject and the object of the
sentence and ask who is doing what.

He waters the plants every Sunday.
(Subject) (Object)

(verb)

Changing from active to passive

1.

Ask yourself who is doing what, and what is
receiving/being targeted by the verb.

He waters the plants every Sunday.
(Subject) (Object)

Performs the verb of watering

Being watered

(verb)

Changing from active to passive

2. “Swap” them around, so that the object comes
before the verb of the sentence.

The plants [waters] [he] every Sunday.
(Object becomes new subject)

Changing from active to passive

3. Add necessary auxiliary verbs and “by”. Make sure
to keep the tense the same, but pay attention to
whether the number (singular/plural changes). Concord!

The plants are watered by [he] every Sunday.

(The sentence is in the present tense.
In the passive voice, the object determines the concord.)

Changing from active to passive

4. Change all personal pronouns to the correct
form.

The plants are watered by him every Sunday.

Examples to try

1.

Jack kicked the ball.

2.

The man eats hamburgers
all day.

3.

After the battle was
won, soldiers wore
medals to celebrate
their victory.

Changing from passive to active voice

1.

Identify the subject and the object of the
sentence

2.

“Swap” them around, so that the subject becomes
the what is doing the verb (it needs to appear
before the verb)

3.

Remove the auxiliary verbs and “by”. Make sure
to keep the tense the same!

4.

Change all the personal pronouns to the correct
forms.

Activity:

In pairs, write instructions for rewriting a sentence from
the passive voice to the active voice. Use the example
sentence provided to show your steps.

“The mysterious package was left by the agent.”