active and passive voice

• Active voice


  The subject of the sentence performs the action
• Passive voice


  The subject of the sentence receives the action
• Understanding active and passive voice

  1. Identify the subject of the sentence

  2. Identify the agent (the person or thing performing the action)

  3. If the subject and agent are the same, it's active voice

  4. If the subject and agent are different, it's passive voice
• Active voice sentence


  • Subject (Shona) comes before the verb
  • Subject and agent are the same
• Passive voice sentence


  • Subject (the house) comes before the verb
  • Subject and agent (Shona) are different
• Changing from active to passive voice


  The subject becomes the object, and the object becomes the subject
• Passive voice is used when the performer of the action is unknown or unimportant
• Passive voice is used when the result of the action is more important than who or what caused the action
• Passive voice can be used to be more polite
• In the provided sentences, the first, third, and fifth are passive voice, while the second and fourth are active voice
• The first sentence in active voice is: The manager served the customer
• The second sentence in passive voice is: Mark's phone was stolen (by someone)