Voice: The Idea
Voice shows whether the subject of a sentence does the action or receives it.
- Active voice: the subject does the action. The judges sentenced the criminal.
- Passive voice: the subject receives the action. The criminal was sentenced by the judges.
The meaning is the same; the focus changes. Active voice puts the doer first; passive voice puts the person or thing affected first.
When the passive is preferred
| Situation | Example |
|---|---|
| The doer is unknown | A murder was committed in that kingdom. |
| The doer is unimportant or obvious | The criminal was asked to run away. |
| The action matters more than the doer | Over 100,000 women were trained to cycle. |
| Formal, official or scientific writing | Loans were given to the women by the banks. |
| To be polite or impersonal | A mistake has been made. |
[Exam Tip] — In the board paper the passive is tested in context: a short paragraph about a lesson, with verbs in brackets. You supply the right passive form, so you must fix both the tense and the number from the paragraph.
How to Change Active into Passive
Three steps, always in this order.
- Object becomes subject. Move the object of the active sentence to the front.
- Verb becomes "be" + past participle (V3). Choose the form of be from the tense of the active verb, and make it agree with the new subject.
- Subject becomes the agent with "by". Put the old subject after by, or drop it if it is unknown or unimportant.
Marcus bought the votes. → The votes were bought by Marcus.
Tense table
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | writes / write | is / am / are written |
| Present continuous | is writing | is being written |
| Present perfect | has written | has been written |
| Simple past | wrote | was / were written |
| Past continuous | was writing | was being written |
| Past perfect | had written | had been written |
| Simple future | will write | will be written |
| Future perfect | will have written | will have been written |
| Modal | can / may / must write | can / may / must be written |
| Infinitive | to write | to be written |
| Perfect infinitive / gerund | having written | having been written |
Pronoun changes with "by"
| Active | Passive agent |
|---|---|
| I | by me |
| we | by us |
| he / she | by him / her |
| they | by them |
| you | by you |
She hires a bicycle every evening. → A bicycle is hired by her every evening.
Special Rules
1. Only transitive verbs can be made passive. A verb with no object has no passive. The water flowed. / He arrived. cannot be turned around.
2. Verbs with two objects. Either object may become the subject; the other stays. Arivoli gave the women training. → The women were given training by Arivoli. / Training was given to the women by Arivoli.
3. Imperatives. Use let or You are requested / advised to… Shut the door. → Let the door be shut. Please help the learners. → The learners are requested to be helped. (More natural: You are requested to help the learners.)
4. Questions keep their question form. Who wrote this poem? → By whom was this poem written? Did Roof tear the ballot? → Was the ballot torn by Roof? What do you want? → What is wanted by you?
5. Sentences with "that" clauses take It is said / believed / reported that… People say water is omniscient. → It is said that water is omniscient.
6. Verbs of perception and causation keep the infinitive with to in the passive. They made him sign the paper. → He was made to sign the paper. We saw her cycle to work. → She was seen to cycle to work.
7. Drop "by + agent" when the doer is people, someone, they, one, nobody. Someone stole my cycle. → My cycle was stolen.
8. Prepositional verbs keep the preposition. They laughed at his fear. → His fear was laughed at.
9. "Have to / has to / had to" + verb. We have to fetch water. → Water has to be fetched.
Common Mistakes
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The letter is write by him. | The letter is written by him. | Use the past participle (V3), not V1. |
| The votes was bought. | The votes were bought. | Be must agree with the new subject. |
| A murder is committed in 1985. | A murder was committed in 1985. | Keep the original tense. |
| The women was given loans. | The women were given loans. | Plural subject takes were. |
| He was arrived late. | He arrived late. | Arrive is intransitive; no passive. |
| The song was wrote by Muthu Bhaskaran. | The song was written by Muthu Bhaskaran. | Wrote is V2, written is V3. |
| It was asked to run away. | The criminal was asked to run away. | Keep the real subject if the sentence needs it. |
| This work must done today. | This work must be done today. | After a modal, use be + V3. |
[Exam Tip] — Before writing an answer, check three things: the tense of the paragraph, the number of the new subject, and the V3 form of the verb (many are irregular: commit - committed, teach - taught, write - written, take - taken, tear - torn, give - given).
The Exam Format (3 marks)
The paper gives a short paragraph based on a lesson, with three blanks and the verbs in brackets. You write only the passive form that fits.
2025 question (solved)
Monaco was called a toy kingdom. A murder _ (commit) in that kingdom. The criminal (sentence) to death by the judges. But the kingdom had no resources to execute the criminal. So the criminal _ (ask) to run away.
Answers: was committed · was sentenced · was asked
How the answer was reached: the paragraph is in the simple past (was called, had no resources), and each subject is singular (a murder, the criminal), so every blank takes was + V3.
Marking: one mark per blank. Write the full form, was committed, not just committed. Do not add by + agent unless the paragraph already has one.
Checklist for the answer sheet
- Read the whole paragraph first and fix the tense.
- Underline the subject of each blank; decide singular or plural.
- Write be in that tense + V3.
- Re-read the sentence once to hear whether it sounds right.