Passive voice – English grammar courses

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The passive voice refers to a sentence in which the subject receives the action. Its form is: To be + Past participle. For example:

Active voice Passive voice
Tom stole the car. The car is stolen by Tom.
Johnny cooked dinner. The dinner was cooked by Johnny.
Lisa bought a dress. The dress was bought by Lisa.

 

Let’s take a look at how the tenses change they are moved from the active voice to the passive:

 

Tense Subject Verb Object
Simple Present Active: He reads a book.
Passive: A book is being read by him.
Simple Past Active: He read a book.
Passive: A book was read by him.
Present Perfect Active: He has read a book.
Passive: A book has been read by him.
Future Active: He will read a book.
Passive: A book will be read by him.
Present Progressive Active: He is reading a book.
Passive: A book is being read by him.
Past Progressive Active: He was reading a book.
Passive: A book was being read by him.
Past Perfect Active: He had read a book.
Passive: A book had been read by him.

As you probably have noticed, a clear difference between active and passive voices are that in the active voice, the subject is the one DOING the action. In the passive voice, the subject is BEING acted upon. In writing, it’s generally considered that sentences using the active voice use fewer words and are more engaging to read which is why it’s favored in writing.

 

Let’s do some exercises with what we have learned already. Change this example sentence into the proper tenses in active voice and turn them into the passive voice: She cooks dinner.

 

Tense Subject Verb Object

 

Simple Present Active:
Passive:
Simple Past Active:
Passive:
Present Perfect Active:
Passive:
Future Active:
Passive:
Present Progressive Active:
Passive:
Past Progressive Active:
Passive:
Past Perfect Active:
Passive: