Who did it?
Every action has a doer, the person or thing doing the action. English lets us build sentences in two ways, depending on whether we want to focus on the doer or on the action itself.
- Active voice: The cat chased the mouse.
- Passive voice: The mouse was chased by the cat.
Both sentences describe the same event. The difference is what comes first, and what the sentence focuses on.
Active voice
In the active voice, the subject does the action.
The chef cooked the pasta.
- Subject (doer): the chef
- Verb: cooked
- Object (receiver): the pasta
Active sentences follow the pattern doer → action → receiver. They are usually clear, direct and lively.
- Maya kicked the ball.
- The wind knocked down the fence.
- Our class planted ten trees.
Passive voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action. The doer moves to the end of the sentence after the word by, or disappears completely.
The pasta was cooked by the chef.
- Subject (receiver): the pasta
- Verb: was cooked
- Doer: by the chef
Passive sentences follow the pattern receiver → be + action → (by doer).
How to form the passive
To make a passive verb, use a form of be plus the past participle of the main verb.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Sam writes the story. | The story is written by Sam. |
| Past | Sam wrote the story. | The story was written by Sam. |
| Future | Sam will write the story. | The story will be written by Sam. |
| Present perfect | Sam has written the story. | The story has been written by Sam. |
| Continuous | Sam is writing the story. | The story is being written by Sam. |
Changing active to passive
- Find the object of the active sentence. It becomes the new subject.
- Add the right form of be.
- Change the verb to its past participle.
- Add by + the doer, if you want to.
Active: The bees made the honey.
Passive: The honey was made by the bees.
Only sentences with an object can become passive. The baby slept has no object, so it has no passive form.
Spotting the passive: the zombie trick
Here is a fun test. If you can add by zombies after the verb and the sentence still makes sense, it is passive.
- The window was broken (by zombies). ✓ passive
- The cookies were eaten (by zombies). ✓ passive
- Sam broke the window (by zombies). ✗ doesn’t work, so it’s active
When to use active voice
Most of the time, the active voice is the better choice. It is:
- clearer: readers know right away who did what
- shorter: fewer words
- stronger: it sounds more energetic
Weak: A goal was scored by Jordan in the last minute.
Strong: Jordan scored a goal in the last minute.
When the passive is useful
The passive voice is not wrong. It is the right choice when:
- the doer is unknown: My bike was stolen. (We don’t know who did it.)
- the doer is not important: The mail is delivered every morning.
- you want to focus on the receiver or result: The Mona Lisa was painted in the 1500s.
- science and reports describe a process: The water was heated to 100°C.
Common mistakes
- Thinking every was is passive. She was happy is not passive: there is no action being done to her. Passive needs be + a past participle.
- Overusing the passive. Too many passive sentences make writing slow and vague.
- Wrong participle. ✗ The cake was ate. → ✓ The cake was eaten.
- Hiding responsibility. Mistakes were made avoids saying who made them. Be clear when it matters.
Try it yourself
Change each sentence to the other voice:
- The dog dug a hole. (to passive)
- The song was sung by the choir. (to active)
- The teacher will grade the tests. (to passive)
Answers: A hole was dug by the dog. The choir sang the song. The tests will be graded by the teacher.
Quick recap
- In the active voice, the subject does the action.
- In the passive voice, the subject receives the action: be + past participle.
- Use the active voice for clear, strong writing.
- Use the passive when the doer is unknown, unimportant or less important than the result.