Read the following sentences:
1. The boy
killed the spider.
2. The
spider was killed by the boy.
As you can probably see both sentences express
the same idea. In sentence 1, the form of the verb indicates that the person
denoted by the subject (the boy) is the doer of the action.
The verb killed is therefore said to be in the active voice.
In
sentence 2, the form of the verb shows that something is done to the person
denoted by the subject (the spider).
The verb is killed is therefore said to be in the passive voice.
A verb
is in the active voice when its form indicates that the person or thing denoted
by the subject does something.
A verb is in the passive voice when its form
indicates that something is done to the person or thing denoted by the subject.
In the following sentences, note the changes
when an active sentence is converted into the passive.
1. John
loves Alice. (Active)
2. Alice is
loved by John. (Passive)
3. The
masons are building the house. (Active)
4. The
house is being built by the masons. (Passive)
5. Who did
this? (Active)
6. By whom
was this done? (Passive)
You will
have noticed that when the verb is changed from the active voice to the passive
voice, the object of the transitive
verb in the active voice becomes the subject
of the verb in the passive voice.
In
sentence 1, John is the subject of the active verb loves. In sentence 2, Alice is the subject of the passive verb is loved.
Only transitive
verbs can be used in the passive voice. Intransitive verbs cannot be used in
the passive voice because they do not have objects.
