Before understanding the active and passive voice tenses and their rules, we need to first develop a keen understanding of active and passive voice tense and the difference between them. Details of Active and Passive Voice Examples for All Tenses here in this article.
Structure of Sentence for Active Voice and Passive Voice
Active Voice: Subject + Verb + Object
Passive Voice: Object + Verb + Subject
Well, in active and passive voice sentences, the main idea or concept of the sentence doesn’t change at all. What changes is the structure of the sentence from active to passive. We already know that a simple sentence is comprised of a subject, verb, and object. In every sentence, the subject in the sentence works as an agent that works on the object while the verb helps in connecting the subject and object while explaining the nature of the connection.
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Difference between Active voice and passive voice sentences
The main difference between the active voice and passive voice is the changing positions of both the subject and the object. We can see in the active voice, the subject working on the object. While in the passive voice, the situation gets the opposite. In converting the active voice into the passive voice, the object seemed working on the subject that makes an entirely different sentence though with the same meaning, idea, or concept.
For Instance,
Active Voice: I eat an Apply.
Passive Voice: An apple is eaten by me.
So, we have seen from the above-mentioned example of how active voice is changed into the passive voice. The sentence may appear a different one but the meaning is the same.
Moreover, apart from changing the positions of the subject and object, the form of the verb also changes. In passive voice, we always use the third form of the verb. The third form of the verb is also known as the past participle. So, this is one of the very important rules of converting active voice into the passive voice.
Another rule that should not be ignored is the use of ‘by’. In converting active voice into the passive voice, add ‘by’ before the subject.
Apart from using ‘by’ before the subject in the passive voice, there are some sentences where we use ‘to’ and with’ before the subject. However, in most of the sentences, ‘by’ is used.
For Example,
Active Voice: I know him
Passive Voice: He is known to me
Moreover, there are certain sentences that do not have a subject in them in the passive form. For example,
“Women are not treated as equals”
Active and Passive Voice Examples for all Tenses
Active Voice: She drinks water
Passive Voice: Water is drunk by her
Active Voice: He buys a camera
Passive Voice: A camera is bought by him
Active Voice: I write a letter
Passive Voice: A letter is written by me
Active Voice: The hunter killed the deer
Passive Voice: The deer was killed by the hunter
Active Voice: Monkeys adore bananas
Passive Voice: Bananas are adored by monkeys
Active Voice: The cashier counted the money
Passive Voice: The money was counted by the cashier
So, these were some of the very easy and regularly used sentences where you have witnessed how active voice changes into the passive voice while using different rules.
