Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules with Examples | PlanetSpark

Language is more than just vocabulary, it is about how ideas are expressed. Sentence structure plays a major role in how clearly and effectively we communicate. One of the key aspects of grammar that changes sentence impact is the use of active and passive verbs. In PlanetSpark’s English Grammar Course, learners practice these structures through guided explanations, real-world examples, and targeted exercises that build accuracy and confidence.

When students learn the difference between active and passive sentences, they gain the ability to control tone, style, and emphasis. Knowing the rules of active and passive voice allows writers to switch between clarity and formality depending on context. PlanetSpark’s English Grammar Course reinforces this with step-by-step transformations, feedback on usage, and activities that show when each voice is most effective.

This blog is your comprehensive guide to understanding active voice and passive voice rules with examples. By the end, you will know not only how to recognize them but also how to change active to passive voice correctly across tenses, exactly the kind of skill you’ll refine inside PlanetSpark’s English Grammar Course.

What is Active Voice?

The active voice is the simplest and most direct way of writing sentences. It emphasizes the subject, the doer of the action.

Structure:
 

Subject + Verb + Object

Examples of Active Voice:
 

The teacher explains the lesson.
She writes a story.
They built a house.

These sentences show active verbs that create clear, direct meaning.

Benefits of Active Voice

• Clarity: The doer of the action is always obvious.

• Energy: Sentences feel strong and lively.

• Brevity: Active sentences are usually shorter.

Where Active Voice is Commonly Used

• Storytelling and creative writing

• Academic answers and essays

• Business communication

• Speeches and presentations

What is Passive Voice?

The passive voice shifts attention away from the subject and onto the object or the action itself. Instead of “who did it,” passive voice highlights “what was done.”

Structure:
 

Object + Form of “be” + Past Participle (+ by + Subject)

Examples of Passive Voice:
 

The lesson is explained by the teacher.
A story is written by her.
The house was built by them.

These are classic passive voice rules with examples that show the receiver of the action.

Benefits of Passive Voice

• Formality: Useful in academic and scientific writing

• Focus: Emphasizes the action instead of the doer

• Neutrality: Helps avoid placing blame

Where Passive Voice is Commonly Used

• Research reports: “The experiment was conducted…”

• News articles: “The policy was announced yesterday.”

• When the doer is unknown: “The documents were stolen.”

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Diagnosing Voice Quickly

How to Spot Active

Subject performs the action: Subject + main verb (+ object).

• The committee approved the budget.

How to Spot Passive

Receiver of the action is subject: Subject + be/get + past participle (+ by + agent).

• The budget was approved (by the committee).

Fast Tests

• Can you add “by [doer]” and it still makes sense? Likely passive.

• Is the main lexical verb a past participle (approved, written, made) preceded by a be/get form? Likely passive.

Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules

Core Conversion Rules (Always Apply)

1. Identify S (subject/agent), V (main verb), O (object/patient).

2. Move O to subject position.

3. Change V → be (or get) + past participle; keep the original tense/aspect/negation/interrogative.

4. Optionally add the agent with by if it adds clarity.

5. Maintain agreement: new subject agrees with be.

6. Keep adverbs, time phrases, and complements in sensible order.

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Full Tense–Aspect Map (Be-Passive)

Use these patterns to preserve tense/aspect when you change active to passive.

• Present Simple: am/is/are + V-en
  Active: They make chips. → Passive: Chips are made.

• Past Simple: was/were + V-en
  Active: They made chips. → Passive: Chips were made.

• Future Simple (will): will be + V-en
  Active: They will make chips. → Passive: Chips will be made.

• Present Continuous: am/is/are being + V-en
  Active: They are making chips. → Passive: Chips are being made.

• Past Continuous: was/were being + V-en
  Active: They were making chips. → Passive: Chips were being made.

• Present Perfect: has/have been + V-en
  Active: They have made chips. → Passive: Chips have been made.

• Past Perfect: had been + V-en
  Active: They had made chips. → Passive: Chips had been made.

• Future Perfect: will have been + V-en
  Active: They will have made chips. → Passive: Chips will have been made.

• Modals (can, could, may, might, must, should, would): modal + be + V-en
  Active: They must follow rules. → Passive: Rules must be followed.

Negatives and Questions

• Negatives: place not after the first auxiliary.
  Active: They did not meet the deadline. → Passive: The deadline was not met.

• • Yes/No questions: invert the first auxiliary.
    Active: Did they approve the plan? → Passive: Was the plan approved?

  • Wh-questions: front the wh-word about the patient.
    Active: Who wrote the report? (agent unknown)
    Passive: Who was the report written by? (formal; better: By whom was the report written?)

  Imperatives

  • Positive imperative: Let + object + be + V-en.
    Active: Close the door. → Passive: Let the door be closed.
    (Stylistically formal; often avoided in modern usage.)

  • Negative imperative: Do not + be + V-en.
    Active: Do not reveal names. → Passive: Do not let names be revealed.

  Double-Object (Ditransitive) Verbs

  With verbs like give, send, tell, show, you can passivize either object:

  • Active: The teacher gave the students homework.

  • Passive (indirect object as subject): The students were given homework.

  • Passive (direct object as subject): Homework was given to the students.

  Prepositional and Phrasal Verbs

  Keep particles/prepositions with the verb in passive:

  • Active: They looked after the child. → Passive: The child was looked after.

  • Active: They called off the match. → Passive: The match was called off.

   

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  Verbs That Rarely or Never Form a Passive

  • Intransitives: arrive, happen, occur, sleep (no object to promote).
    ✗ The accident was happened.

  • Linking/state verbs when used copularly: seem, appear, become (already link the subject to complement).
    ✗ The idea was seemed.

  • Possession/state senses of have/own/belong:
    ✗ A car is had by me (unnatural in modern English).

  Get-Passive vs Be-Passive

  • Be-passive: neutral, common in writing. The results were verified.

  • Get-passive: more informal, often suggests change or affect on the subject. The server got hacked last night.
    Avoid get-passive in very formal academic writing unless the nuance is intended.

  Agent Phrases: by vs with

  • by introduces the agent (doer). The mural was painted by students.

  • with introduces an instrument or means. The lock was opened with a key.
    Do not mix them: ✗ by a key (unless the key is personified).

  Stative (Adjectival) Passives vs Verbal Passives

  • Stative/adjectival: be + V-en describes a state, not an action. The door is closed (state).
    Clue: can take very (The door is very closed—odd), sound natural with seem/appear: The door seems closed.

  • Verbal passive: focuses on the action or event, often allows by-phrase/time adverbs. The door was closed by the guard at 9 pm.

  Information Structure and Emphasis

  Use passive to:

  • Keep the topic in the subject position: The vaccine was approved in 2024.

  • De-emphasize or omit the agent when irrelevant/unknown: The files were deleted.

  • Build cohesion in paragraphs by repeating the same subject across sentences.

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  Frequent Learner Pitfalls (and Fixes)

  1. Past participle errors
     ✗ The movie was see by us. → ✓ The movie was seen by us.

  2. Dropping the auxiliary be
     ✗ The match postponed due to rain. → ✓ The match was postponed due to rain.

  3. Passive with intransitives
     ✗ The accident was occurred yesterday. → ✓ The accident occurred yesterday.

  4. Misplacing time/place adverbials
     ✗ The rule was by the manager yesterday changed. → ✓ The rule was changed by the manager yesterday.

  5. Overusing by-phrase
     If obvious, omit it: The suspect was arrested (by police).

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  Precision With Participles

  Certain verbs change meaning with the participle:

  • fall → fallen; feel → felt; lie/lay confusion:
    Active: She laid the book down. → Passive: The book was laid down.
    Active: She lay on the sofa. (intransitive) → No passive.

  Quick Reference: One-Glance Table

  Task	Pattern	Example
  Active → Passive (simple tenses)	be (same tense) + V-en	They publish the list → The list is published
  Continuous	be (same tense) + being + V-en	They are reviewing cases → Cases are being reviewed
  Perfect	have/has/had + been + V-en	They have issued ID cards → ID cards have been issued
  Modals	modal + be + V-en	They must complete forms → Forms must be completed
  Questions	Aux inversion	Did they sign it? → Was it signed?
  Negatives	not after first aux	They did not send it → It was not sent
  Ditransitives	either object can promote	They gave me a prize → I was given a prize

  Practice Framework You Can Use Anywhere

  1. Circle S, V, O.

  2. Check verb type (transitive? participle irregular?).

  3. Choose a tense pattern from the map.

  4. Draft passive; read aloud for sense and rhythm.

  5. Remove the by-phrase if it adds nothing.

  6. Check agreement and word order.

  Mini Exercise Set (Answer Key Included)

  Convert to Passive

  1. The editor will publish the article tomorrow.

  2. They are building a new bridge across the river.

  3. The jury has reached a verdict.

  4. Someone stole my bicycle.

  5. The teacher gave the class a surprise test.

  Answers

  1. The article will be published tomorrow.

  2. A new bridge is being built across the river.

  3. A verdict has been reached.

  4. My bicycle was stolen. (agent unknown—omit by-phrase)

  5. The class was given a surprise test. / A surprise test was given to the class.

   

  

Key Differences Between Active and Passive Voice

Understanding the distinction between an active sentence and a passive sentence helps students choose the right style:

Both are correct, but the choice depends on the purpose.

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Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules

This is the heart of grammar: knowing the rules of active and passive voice.

Rule 1: Identify the Subject, Verb, and Object

Active: The chef cooks the meal.
Passive: The meal is cooked by the chef.

Rule 2: Swap the Subject and Object

Active: The dog chased the ball.
Passive: The ball was chased by the dog.

Rule 3: Adjust the Verb (be + past participle)

Active: She sings a song.
Passive: A song is sung by her.

Rule 4: Use “By” Phrase (Optional)

Active: The teacher corrected the answer.
Passive: The answer was corrected (by the teacher).

Rule 5: Keep Tense Consistent

Tense does not change when converting from an active to a passive sentence.

Examples of Active and Passive Voice in Tenses

To fully understand active voice and passive voice rules, practice across tenses is essential.

Present Simple

Active: She writes a letter.
Passive: A letter is written by her.

Past Simple

Active: He painted the wall.
Passive: The wall was painted by him.

Future Simple

Active: They will organize the event.
Passive: The event will be organized by them.

Present Continuous

Active: The workers are repairing the road.
Passive: The road is being repaired by the workers.

Past Continuous

Active: She was reading a book.
Passive: A book was being read by her.

Present Perfect

Active: They have finished the project.
Passive: The project has been finished by them.

Future Perfect

Active: She will have completed the assignment.
Passive: The assignment will have been completed by her.

These examples of active and passive voice help in mastering transformations.

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Common Mistakes in Active and Passive Voice

Students often struggle when they try to change active to passive voice. Here are common errors:

• Changing tense incorrectly

• Forgetting the past participle form

• Overusing passive voice, making the writing wordy

• Adding “by” unnecessarily

• Confusing subject-object roles

By sticking to the active voice and passive voice rules, these mistakes can be avoided.

Why Active and Passive Voice Rules Matter

Mastering these rules is important for:

• Exams: Sentence transformation is a common test question

• Writing: Active sentences improve essays; passive adds formality

• Speaking: Better fluency and grammar control

• Communication: Choosing the right voice creates impact

FAQs on Active Voice and Passive Voice Rules

1. What are active and passive verbs?

Active verbs show the subject acting, while passive verbs show the subject receiving the action.

2. What are the main rules of active and passive voice?

Identify subject, verb, object → swap subject and object → adjust verb (be + past participle) → maintain tense.

3. How do you change active to passive voice?

For example: Active: “She reads a book.” → Passive: “A book is read by her.”

4. Are active sentences and passive sentences equally correct?

Yes. Active is preferred in daily use, but passive suits academic and formal writing.

5. Can you give examples of active and passive voice?

Active: “The dog chased the cat.” / Passive: “The cat was chased by the dog.”

6. Why do students struggle with passive voice rules?

They often forget tense agreement and the correct participle form, leading to errors.

7. How does PlanetSpark help with active and passive voice rules?

PlanetSpark uses 1:1 trainers, AI tools, gamified practice, and writing clubs to make grammar engaging and practical.