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Grammatical voice shows the relationship between the subject of a sentence and the action expressed by the verb. Specifically, voice indicates whether the subject in a sentence performs an action or receives it.
In English, there are two main types of voice: active voice and passive voice.
We can better see how voice works by comparing the same event in both voices:
| Voice | Subject | Verb (Action) | Object / Agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | Sarah | broke | the window. [object] |
| Passive | The window | was broken | by Sarah. [agent] |
Notice how the subject changes between the two voices. In active voice, Sarah (the person doing the action) is the subject. In passive voice, the window (the thing receiving the action) becomes the subject.
This shift in subject isn’t just a grammatical technicality; it changes where we direct the reader’s attention.
We use active voice when we want to emphasise who is responsible for an action, and passive voice when we want to focus on what happened.
| What is Verb Conjugation? Verb conjugation is the process of changing verbs to show: 1) Person: Who is doing the action 2) Number: Whether it’s singular or plural 3) Tense: When the action happens 4) Mood: How the action is expressed (statements, commands, or hypotheticals) 5) Voice: Whether the subject performs or is the focus of the action |
Voice in Use
Active Voice:
– I am super excited for the weekend.
– Our cat is eighteen years old.
– We missed the bus by just a few seconds.
– My dog ate my entire sandwich when I turned my back for two minutes.
Passive Voice:
– Orders are processed within 48 hours.
– The festival was cancelled due to bad weather.
– English is spoken in many countries around the world.
– Several road closures are planned this weekend due to the protest.
Active Voice
In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. This creates a direct, straightforward sentence structure that clearly shows who or what is doing something.
The standard pattern for active voice constructions is: subject + verb + object:
Active Voice: Basic Sentence Structure
| Subject | Verb | Object | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria | bakes | cookies | every weekend. |
| The Storm | damaged | several houses | in our area. |
| My neighbour | walks | his dog | four times a day. |
In each sentence, we can see who or what performs the action. Maria does the baking, the storm does the damaging, and the neighbour does a lot of dog walking. The active voice creates this clarity by putting the doer of the action in the subject position.
Most of the time, we naturally speak and write in active voice because it presents information in the logical order we expect: the doer, the action, then what or who receives it. In other words, active voice feels natural to use in most contexts.
More examples of active voice constructions:
- I bumped into my old teacher at the supermarket this morning.
- It was the accountant who noticed the error.
- The plumber fixed the leak in under five minutes.
- The manager finally approved my holiday request yesterday.
- The photographer took some amazing shots at our wedding.
Active Voice and Verb Conjugation
Active voice is the default way we use verbs in English.
Standard verb forms, such as I run / she teaches / they cooked, are automatically in active voice because the subject is doing the action. In other words, verbs in active voice constructions follow the normal conjugation patterns for tense and agreement.
For example:
| Standard Conjugation Patterns – to run (mixed tenses) | Voice |
|---|---|
| – I run every day. | Active ✅ |
| – You always used to run in the mornings. | Active ✅ |
| – He ran five kilometres yesterday. | Active ✅ |
| – We are running a marathon this weekend. | Active ✅ |
| – They will run the race next weekend. | Active ✅ |
These examples all use the verb to run in standard conjugation patterns. And since the subject performs the action in each case, each sentence is in active voice.
When to Use Active Voice
Active voice is the standard way we communicate in English. We naturally use it in most speaking and writing situations because it presents information in a logical, straightforward way.
We tend to use active voice to:
1) Show Clear Responsibility and Accountability
We use active voice when we want to make it clear who’s responsible for an action or decision.
- Active Voice: Antoni Gaudí built Park Güell in 1900.
> Clearly shows who is responsible for building Park Güell.- Passive Voice: Park Güell was built in 1900.
> Does not specify who built the park.
2) Focus on the Subject
We use active voice when the person or thing doing the action is the main focus of our sentence.
- Active Voice: My grandmother taught me this recipe.
> Here, the focus is on the grandmother.- Passive Voice: This recipe was taught to me by my grandmother.
> Conversely, the focus here shifts to the recipe.
3) Be Direct and Concise
In active voice, the subject (the doer) takes centre stage, which makes our sentences clearer and easier to follow.
- Active Voice: Tom fixed the broken printer.
> The subject Tom comes first so it is immediately clear who’s doing the action of fixing the printer.- Passive Voice: The broken printer was fixed by Tom.
> Here, the subject comes last, which makes the sentence less direct and also more wordy.
Passive Voice
In passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action rather than performing it. The focus shifts from who performs the action to what receives it or what happens as a result.
The standard pattern for passive voice constructions is: subject + verb to be + past participle + by phrase:
Passive Voice: Basic Sentence Structure
| Subject | Verb To Be | Past Participle | Doer of Verb Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| The suspect | was | arrested | by police yesterday. |
| Several houses | were | damaged | by the storm in our area. |
| Fresh bread | is | baked | by our talented bakers daily. |
In each sentence, notice how the emphasis is placed on what happened to something rather than who did it. The suspect received the arrest, the houses suffered the damage, and the bread underwent the baking process.
In a nutshell, passive voice puts the spotlight on the thing being affected by the verb action.
By Phrases in Passive Voice
Passive sentences can include a by phrase that tells us who performed the action. In grammatical terms, this performer is called the agent – the person or thing that does the action. However, we can leave the agent out when it isn’t important or known, or when it’s obvious from context.
– When We Don’t Need a By Phrase
We generally don’t use a by phrase when the agent is not important or known:
- Dinner is served from 6 to 9 PM
by the waiters. (the server’s identity isn’t relevant to diners)- My bike was stolen
by someone. (the thief’s identity is unknown)- Several mistakes were found in the report
by the reviewers. (who found them doesn’t change the fact)
Also, we tend not to use a by phrase when the agent is obvious from context:
- The suspect was arrested
by police. (obviously by police)- Your order has been dispatched
by our warehouse team. (obviously by the company)- The patient was treated successfully
by the medical staff. (obviously by medical professionals)
– When We Do Include a By Phrase
Conversely, we typically include a by phrase when the identity of the agent adds important, relevant, or necessary information.
For example:
- The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
> Here, the agent’s identity is crucial because it affects the painting’s value and significance.- My car was hit by a drunk driver.
> Without knowing the agent, ‘my car was hit’ lacks context about how and why the accident happened.- The speech was interrupted by environmental protesters.
> The agent’s identity explains why the interruption happened and what kind of disruption it was.
Put simply, we use a by phrase when the agent provides important information about who, why, or how something happened.
Passive Voice and Verb Conjugation
Verbs don’t change to create new verb forms when we use passive voice. Instead, passive voice affects how we structure sentences by using existing forms of the auxiliary verb to be combined with past participles.
For instance:
Active Voice To Passive Voice (Present Simple)
| Active Voice: | [Subject] | [Verb] | [Object] | |
| Amazon | delivers | packages | 7 days a week. | |
| ↓ | ||||
| Packages | are delivered | by Amazon | 7 days a week. | |
| Passive Voice: | [Subject] | [To Be + Past Participle] | [Agent] |
As we can see, passive voice sentence structure is considerably different from that of active voice:
- Subject Position: ‘packages’ (the object) moves to become the subject
- Original Subject: ‘Amazon’ moves to an optional by phrase
- Verb Form: ‘delivers’ becomes ‘are delivered’ (to be + past participle)
- Agreement: ‘to be’ takes the form ‘are’ to match the plural subject ‘packages’ and the present tense of the original verb ‘delivers’
Despite these structural changes, the core meaning remains the same. We’re still talking about the same delivery action, just with different emphasis.
In active voice, the sentence focuses on who delivers the packages (Amazon). In passive voice, the focus is on the packages as the things being delivered.
Passive voice works in all the main tenses. What changes is the form of the verb to be (to show the different tense), while the past participle stays the same throughout. Let’s see how this works:
Passive Voice Forms by Tense
| Tense | Structure | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present Passive | am/is/are + past participle | – Coffee is served all day in the cafeteria. |
| Present Continuous Passive | am/is/are + being + past participle | – Dinner is being prepared now. |
| Present Perfect Passive | has/have + been + past participle | – New flood defences have been built along the river. |
| Past Passive | was/were + past participle | – This building was constructed in 1875. |
| Past Continuous Passive | was/were + being + past participle | – The house was being painted when we arrived. |
| Past Perfect Passive | had + been + past participle | – The decision had already been made. |
| Future Passive | will + be + past participle | – The election results will be announced tomorrow morning. |
| Future Perfect Passive | will + have + been + past participle | – All tickets will have been sold by noon today. |
When to Use Passive Voice
Although active voice is generally the preferred voice in most contexts, passive voice serves specific purposes and can be the better choice in certain situations:
1) When the Actor is Unknown
Sometimes, we don’t know who did something, and in such cases the passive voice can be the better choice because it keeps the focus on what happened, without awkwardly pointing to an unknown entity.
- Passive Voice: The ancient manuscript was discovered in 1920.
> Here, the focus is on the discovery itself, which is what matters most in this context.- Active Voice: Someone discovered the ancient manuscript in 1920.
> When the subject is vague or unknown, mentioning it first can distract from the main point the speaker or writer wants to highlight.
2) When the Actor Is Irrelevant or Implied
When who performs an action isn’t the focus or is already understood from context, passive voice helps to keep attention on the action or its outcome instead of the doer.
- Passive Voice: Your appointment has been rescheduled for next Thursday.
> The important point here is the new appointment date. Who rescheduled it isn’t really relevant.- Active Voice: Lindsay has rescheduled your appointment for next Thursday.
> Active voice puts the actor first, which is useful when who did it matters. But when the focus is the action or result (like a change of appointment) naming the actor shifts attention and can weigh the sentence down.
3) To Avoid Assigning Blame
- Passive Voice: Your order was cancelled by mistake.
> Here, the error is acknowledged without specifying who made it.- Active Voice: Shane, a customer service colleague, cancelled your order by mistake.
> Here, the person responsible for the error is pointed out and blamed, which would likely be inappropriate in many contexts.
4) To Sound More Formal or Objective
Passive voice constructions can help to create a more formal, objective tone. For this reason, they are quite commonly found in academic writing, scientific research, and news reporting.
In the academic and scientific world, passive voice is often used to keep an objective focus on methods and results:
- Passive Voice: Blood pressure was measured before and after treatment.
> Here, passive voice creates a more neutral and objective tone by removing the actor, which keeps the focus on the procedure instead of who performed it.- Active Voice: The nurses measured blood pressure before and after treatment.
> Here, the focus shifts to the nurses checking blood pressure, which gives the sentence a bit more of a personal and subjective feel.
In addition, passive voice is often used in news reporting where a focus on events rather than on who carried them out is desired.
- Passive Voice: The suspect was arrested following a lengthy investigation.
> Here, passive voice puts focus on the event (the arrest) in an objective, matter-of-fact manner without naming anyone personally.- Active Voice: Officers Johnson and Smith arrested the suspect following a lengthy investigation.
> Here, the focus shifts to the specific officers doing the arresting, moving away from a matter-of-fact description of the event and adding a more personal element to the story.
Practice Makes Perfect: Voice
Exercise 1: Active or Passive?
State whether each sentence is in the active or passive voice.
- The dog has chewed through the garden hose again.
- The match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
- Nobody told me the meeting had been moved to Monday.
- New cycle lanes are being installed in and around the town centre.
- My neighbour grows most of his own vegetables.
- The package was delivered while we were out.
- The committee approved the new proposal.
- English is an official language in going on 70 countries around the world.
- Banksy painted that mural, apparently.
- My grandad’s favourite car game was pointing out all the walls he built in his long career as a bricklayer.
Exercise 1: Answers [Click]
- Active (the dog performs the action)
- Passive (the match is the subject, and the postponement happened to it)
- Active (the main clause is active: nobody performed the telling. Note: the embedded clause had been moved is passive, showing that both voices can appear in the same sentence.)
- Passive (the cycle lanes are the subject, and the installation is happening to them)
- Active (the neighbour performs the action)
- Passive (the package is the subject, and the delivery happened to it)
- Active (the committee performed the action)
- Passive (English is the subject, described as an official language)
- Active (Banksy performed the action)
- Active (grandad performed the action)
Exercise 2: Active to Passive
Rewrite each sentence in the passive voice. You may leave out the by phrase if it is not needed.
- The council finally repaired the potholes last week.
- Someone has eaten the last biscuit.
- A local charity organises the event every year.
- They have cancelled the flight due to bad weather.
- The police arrested two men in connection with the incident.
- They speak Portuguese in Brazil.
- Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1600.
- Nobody has claimed the winning lottery ticket yet.
- The teacher told us to wait outside.
- People have been reporting problems with the new update since yesterday.
Exercise 2: Answers [Click]
- The potholes were finally repaired last week. (we can drop the by phrase – it is obvious who repairs roads)
- The last biscuit has been eaten. (we can drop the by phrase – agent unknown)
- The event is organised by a local charity every year. (keep the by phrase – the charity’s involvement is relevant)
- The flight has been cancelled due to bad weather. (we can drop the by phrase – irrelevant who cancelled it)
- Two men were arrested in connection with the incident. (we can drop the by phrase – it is obvious the police made the arrest)
- Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. (we can drop the by phrase – the vague they’ doesn’t add anything useful)
- Hamlet was written by Shakespeare around 1600. (keep the by phrase – Shakespeare’s identity is significant)
- The winning lottery ticket has not been claimed yet. (we can drop the by phrase – agent unknown)
- We were told to wait outside. (we can drop the by phrase – context makes it clear)
- Problems with the new update have been reported since yesterday. (we can drop the by phrase – who reported them is irrelevant)
Exercise 3: Keep or Drop the By Phrase?
Each sentence below contains a by phrase. Decide whether the by phrase should be kept or dropped.
- The suspect was arrested by the police.
- The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel.
- Your parcel has been dispatched by our warehouse team.
- The new hospital wing was funded by a local businesswoman.
- Several errors were spotted in the report by the reviewers.
- The bridge was destroyed by enemy forces during the war.
- The new policy was introduced by the government to reduce emissions.
- The patient was treated successfully by the medical staff.
- The law was passed by a majority vote of 312 to 198.
- The award was presented by the Prime Minister at a ceremony in London.
Exercise 3: Answers [Click]
- Drop – it is obvious that police make arrests, so the by phrase doesn’t add anything useful here.
- Keep – the designer’s identity is significant and adds important context to the sentence.
- Drop – it is obvious the company dispatched the parcel, so the by phrase isn’t needed.
- Keep – the funder’s identity is relevant and adds meaningful information about who made the project possible.
- Drop – who spotted the errors doesn’t change the fact that they exist, so the by phrase can be left out.
- Keep – the agent tells us how and why the destruction happened, which is important context.
- Keep – identifying the government as responsible adds important accountability to the sentence.
- Drop – it is obvious that medical staff treat patients, so the by phrase doesn’t add anything useful here.
- Keep – the vote detail provides important context about how the law was passed.
- Keep – the Prime Minister’s involvement adds significance to the award and is worth including.
Exercise 4: Which Voice and Why?
For each situation below, decide which voice is more appropriate.
- A news report covering a factory fire.
Active: Firefighters extinguished the blaze after two hours.
Passive: The blaze was extinguished after two hours. - A scientist writing up a research study.
Active: We measured the patients’ blood pressure twice daily.
Passive: The patients’ blood pressure was measured twice daily. - A manager sending an email to a customer about a billing error.
Active: Our accounts team made an error on your invoice.
Passive: An error was made on your invoice. - A company announcing a new product launch.
Active: We are launching our new range of products next month.
Passive: Our new range of products is being launched next month. - A history book describing the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Active: Hundreds of thousands of workers built the Great Wall over many centuries.
Passive: The Great Wall was built by hundreds of thousands of workers over many centuries.
Exercise 4: Answers [Click]
- Passive is more appropriate here. When the event itself is the story, passive voice keeps the focus where it needs to be. That said, active voice works too if the story is about the firefighters themselves.
- Passive is more appropriate here. Scientific writing tends to use passive voice to keep things objective, with the focus on the procedure rather than the people carrying it out.
- Passive is more appropriate here. Passive voice avoids pointing the finger at anyone specifically, which is generally the more tactful way to handle a mistake in customer communications.
- Active is more appropriate here. Company announcements tend to use active voice to sound confident and direct, though passive voice can work in more formal or corporate contexts.
- Both voices work here, depending on the angle the writer is taking. Active voice puts the workers front and centre, giving more weight to the human effort involved. Passive voice shifts the focus to the Wall itself as the subject of history. Neither is wrong – it comes down to what the writer wants to emphasise.