Passive & Active voice

We use passive voice because …

• to simplify the sentence structure.
• to avoid using verbs altogether.
• to emphasize the action or the recipient of the action.
• to make the subject more prominent.

What form of a verb is used in passive voice?

• A form of 'to be' + gerund.
• A form of 'to be' + past participle.
• A form of 'to have' + present participle.
• A form of 'to do' + infinitive.

Change to passive:

He brought me some cake.

• I was brought some cake by him.
• He was bringing me some cake.
• Some cake was given to me by him.
• Some cake was brought to me by him.

Change to passive:

They always give gifts to us.

• Gifts are given to us always by them.
• Gifts are always given to us by them.
• They give us gifts always.
• We are always given gifts by them.

Change to passive:

She teaches Science to us.

• She is teaching Science to us.
• We are taught Science by her.
• Science was taught to us by her.
• Science is taught to us by her.

Change to passive:

He helped us.

• We were helped by him.
• He helps us.
• We helped him.
• He was helped by us.

Change to passive:

The examiners distributed the papers.

• The examiners were distributed by the papers.
• The papers distributed the examiners.
• The papers are distributed by the examiners.
• The papers were distributed by the examiners.

Change active sentence to passive & passive to active:

I am bored by that movie.

• That movie bores me.
• I am not bored by that movie.
• I bore that movie.
• That movie is boring to me.

Change active sentence to passive & passive to active:

We were invited to their wedding.

• They invited us to their wedding.
• We attended their wedding.

• We invited them to their wedding.
• They were invited to our wedding.

Change to active voice:

She has been taught how to dance.

• She was taught by someone how to dance.
• They have taught her dancing.
• Someone has taught her how to dance.
• She teaches how to dance.