LoginVoices
This lesson delves into the complexities of active and passive voice, exploring their roles in different grammatical contexts. It offers comprehensive explanations, advanced exercises, and a quiz.
Voices: Types
There are three voices in the English grammar as is mentioned below.
Active Voice
Whenever the subject is the doer of the action, the sentence is considered to be in the active voice.
Look at some examples of the active voice:
They suddenly started arguing.
Peter drove a BMW when he was in Sicilia.
Active Voice: Structure
The active voice has a straightforward structure which consists of the subject + verb + (object) where the subject is the doer of the action, the verb shows the action being performed, and the object shows the receiver of the action. Look at the examples:
The cat chased the mouse.
The police arrested the thief.
Passive Voice
Whenever the direct object of an active voice is moved to the subject position of the sentence and the subject turns to an optional adjunct, the passive voice appears in the sentence.
In sentences in the passive voice, the subject is not the doer of the action, it is actually the recipient of the action. The passive voice is used when the speaker does not wish to give information about the agent or does not know who the agent is. Check out the examples:
The cook is introduced to the workers in advance.
The shoes are designed by Christian Louboutin.
Passive Voice: Structure
In the passive voice, the subject is the recipient of the action and the verb is formed using an auxiliary "be" + past participle form of the main verb. The agent or doer of the action can be introduced using the preposition "by" at the end of the sentence, but this is optional. Look at the examples below:
The man was bitten by the dog.
The active equivalent of this sentence would be "The dog bit the man." which shows the man to be the person receiving the action of the verb.
The car was stolen.
Middle Voice
The middle voice is another voice in English that has some of the characteristic of the active voice and some of the characteristics of the passive voice. In sentences in the middle voice, the subject is both performing the action and affected by the action but the agent is not identified. Sentences in the middle voice express tendencies and natural changes in the states of things. Have a look at some examples:
The door opened.
The soup cooks quickly.
Middle Voice: Structure
The verb form in the middle voice is the same as the active voice, but they differ in that the active voice identifies the agent (subject) while the middle voice does not allow identification of the agent even using a prepositional phrase (the way the passive voice does). Here are some examples:
The window shattered.
You can't say "The window shattered by the kids."
The book sells well.
Warning!
While the verb in the middle voice is always intransitive, not all intransitive verbs are in the middle voice. The middle voice is only applicable in cases where the grammatical subject is itself affected by the action of the verb and undergoes some change as the result of this action. Compare the examples:
She sleeps peacefully.
This is an intransitive verb, but it is not in the middle voice since the subject is the actual person performing the action of "sleeping".
The knife sharpens easily.
Here, the knife undergoes the action of "sharpening" in the manner specified. This is an intransitive verb used in the middle voice.
Review
The voice of a verb shows the relationship between the verb and its participants. There are three voices in English as follows:
active voice: the subject is the doer of the action of the verb
passive voice: the subject is the recipient of the action of the verb
middle voice: the subject is affected by the action of the verb
Quiz:
Which sentence is in the active voice?
The cake was baked by Mary.
The report writes itself.
The children played soccer.
This fabric tears easily.
Sort the voices to form a sentence in the passive voice.
Which sentence is incorrect?
The movie was directed by Spielberg.
The bread bakes at 350°F.
The window shattered by the wind.
The book was written by a famous author.
Complete the table below by choosing the voice used in the sentence.
The chef prepared the meal. | |
The book sells quickly. | |
The dog chased the ball. | |
The meal was prepared by the chef. | |
The window broke. |
Complete each sentence using the correct form of the verb in parentheses.
The book
(write) by the author last year.
The door
(open) every morning at 8 a.m.
The team
(develop) a new strategy last week.
The task
(complete) by the team members tomorrow.
The cake
(bake) in 30 minutes.
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