#Active versus passive voice how to#

Switching the position of the object and subject will change the sentence to active voice. Position of subject and object: The position of the subject and the object in a passive sentence are often switched, with the object placed before the verb and the subject placed after. To change a sentence from passive to active, first determine what makes the sentence passive, and then apply one of the following rules:

#Active versus passive voice how to#

How to change passive voice to active voice Passive Voice: The entire cake was eaten (past participle) by himself. The verb form can determine if a sentence is active or passive.Īctive Voice: He ate (past tense verb) the entire cake by himself. Passive Voice: The fire was extinguished in less than an hour.

The subject does not need to be directly identified when using passive voice. Passive Voice: The fence (object) was jumped over by the dog (subject). Interchanging the object and subject determines if a sentence is active or passive.Īctive Voice: The dog (subject) jumped over the fence (object). Passive Voice: object + to be + past participle verb + subject (optional) The placement of the subject, verb, and object determines if a sentence is active or passive. General rules for active and passive voice include the following: The museum is visited each year by hundreds of tourists. The confused customer was helped at the store. The letters were delivered by her yesterday.Īt least two new employees will be hired by the company. Hundreds of tourists visit the museum each year.īelow are examples of sentences written with a passive voice: The salesman helped the confused customer at the store. The company will hire at least two new employees.

The following are examples of active voice sentences: Below are two lists of example sentences written in both the active and passive voice.