LoginActive Voice
This lesson delves into the complexities of the active voice, exploring its roles in different grammatical structures and contexts. It offers comprehensive explanations, advanced exercises, and a quiz.
Active Voice: Structure
A sentence in the active voice consists of a subject at the beginning of the sentence as the doer of the action followed by either a transitive or an intransitive verb. If the verb is transitive, there is a direct object used after it which receives the action of the verb. Check out the examples:
The man was standing next to my car.
The man is the subject and performs the action of the verb 'standing'.
I ate the birthday cake.
'I' performs the action of "eating" and "the birthday cake" receives the action of eating.
She drinks tea.
Intransitive Verbs
One way to identify the active voice is to locate the verb in the sentence and determine whether it is a transitive or an intransitive verb. All sentences with intransitive verbs where the subject performs the action of the verb are in the active voice. Check these examples out:
Luisa danced well.
She walked across the hall.
Not an Active Voice
Do not confuse intransitive verbs with the passive voice. Sometimes the verb has no direct object and the sentence consists of a subject and a verb, but the subject is actually the receiver of the action, not the doer. In this case, a passive sentence is formed. The real doer of the action might be mentioned after the verb using the preposition "by", but it still doesn't make the sentence active. Look at the examples:
The girl was robbed.
In this example the girl (subject) did not do the act of robbing.
The novel was read by thousands of people.
'The novel' did not do the act of 'reading' in this example.
Imperatives
Sometimes the sentence has no apparent subject because the subject is implied. Imperative sentences are one of the special types of active sentences. In imperatives, the subject 'you' is implied, but the sentence is still considered to be in the active voice. For example:
Go!
Read it again, please!
Do not talk in the class room.
Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
In the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action and the sentence follows the straightforward Subject (+ Object) structure. In the passive voice, however, the subject is the receiver of the action and the verb structure involves use of auxiliary "be" and past participle of the verb. Compare the examples:
The chef prepared the meal.
Here, the subject (the chef) performing the action of preparing
The meal was prepared by the chef.
In the passive example, "the meal" becomes the subject that receives the action.
Using the Passive Voice together with the Active Voice
An active voice can easily be followed by a passive voice using relative peonouns. In this case, the first clause has an agent in the subject position, but the second clause does not. Check out the examples.
I saw the man who was killed yesterday.
We watched a movie which was directed by Tim Burton.
Tip!
The active voice is usually preferred in writing because it is clear, concise, and easy to understand. However, when it comes to scientific writing, it is often preferred to use the passive voice. Here are some examples.
The blood is pumped all over your body within a second.
In this example, passive is used for a scientific fact.
The brain is protected by the sculp.
Review
Active voice is formed when the subject is acting upon the verb. Let us take a look a few active examples:
She is nice.
She slept well last night.
Hanna got along well with Tony.
Here is a table to describe which sentences can be an active voice:
Active Voice | |
|---|---|
Sentences with intransitive verbs | ✓ |
Sentences with no subjects | ✓ |
Sentences with transitive verbs and a direct object | ✓ |
Sentences with subjects added using (by) | ✗ |
Quiz:
Sort the words to form an active sentence.
Which sentence is not in active voice?
Birds fly.
The cake was baked.
The sun rises.
Close the door!
Which of the following is NOT true about active voice?
It is usually clear and concise.
It prefers auxiliary verbs like "be"
It places the subject at the beginning
It shows the subject as the doer of the action
Choose true or false for each statement.
Active voice can only be used with transitive verbs. | |
In active voice, the subject position must always be filled by an explicit noun. | |
Scientific writing exclusively uses active voice. | |
Only transitive active verbs can be converted to passive voice. |
Change the following passive sentences into the active voice.
The challenge was overcome by the team. →
.
The plants were trimmed by the gardener. →
.
Important experiments were conducted by the scientists. →
.
Comments
(0)
Recommended
