Active vs Passive Voice

What is the active voice?

• A type of sentence or clause in which the subject performs the action expressed by the verb.

• A type of sentence or clause in which the action is not performed by the subject.

• A type of sentence or clause in which the verb is passive.

• A type of sentence or clause in which the verb performs the action expressed by the subject.

Give an example of a sentence in active voice.

• The mouse was chased by the cat.

• The cat chased the mouse.

• The mouse was chased.

• The mouse was being chased by the cat.

What is the passive voice?

• The passive voice is a type of punctuation used to emphasize certain words in a sentence.

• The passive voice is a literary device that involves using complex sentence structures.

• The passive voice is a grammatical voice where the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action.

• The passive voice is a grammatical voice where the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action rather than the doer.

Provide an example of a sentence in passive voice.

• The mouse was chased by the cat.

• She sang a beautiful song.

• I ate the delicious cake.

• The cat chased the mouse.

How can you identify the active voice in a sentence?

• Check for the object of the sentence

• Identify the adverbial phrase

• Look for the subject performing the action directly in the sentence.

• Look for the verb in the sentence

How can you identify the passive voice in a sentence?

• Look for forms of the verb 'to be' followed by a past participle verb.

• Identify the subject performing the action.

• Look for adverbs followed by a past participle verb.

• Check for the use of active verbs.

When should you use the active voice?

• When you want to clearly identify the subject performing the action.

• When you want to hide the subject

• When you want to make the sentence longer

• When you want to confuse the reader

When should you use the passive voice?

• When you want to make the sentence more engaging and active.

• When the focus is on the doer of the action rather than the action being done.

• When you want to confuse the reader with unclear writing.

• When the focus is on the action being done rather than the doer of the action.

Rewrite the following sentence from active to passive voice: The cat chased the mouse.

• The mouse was chasing the cat.

• The mouse was chasing by the cat.

• The cat was chased by the mouse.

• The mouse was chased by the cat.

Rewrite the following sentence from passive to active voice: The cake was baked by Mary.

• Mary was baking the cake.

• The cake was being baked by Mary.

• The cake was baked by Mary yesterday.

• Mary baked the cake.