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What is the passive voice?
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In general we tend to use the active voice. That is when a subject does an action to an object.
- Somebody stole my laptop. (subject = Somebody / action(verb) = stole / object = my laptop)
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The passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb) and the object of a sentence rather than subject. This means that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know who or what the subject is.
- My laptop was stolen. (The object – now the subject = My laptop / action= was stolen)
- Passive: Napa Valley is known for its excellent wines.
- Active: [Many people] know Napa Valley for its excellent wines.
- Passive: Twenty civilians were killed in the bomb explosion.
- Active: Someone killed twenty civilians in the bomb explosion.
The passive agent
When we know who the subject is, we put it at the end with by. We call this an agent.
- Passive: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (agent =Leonardo Da Vinci )
- Active: Leonaro Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.
Most writing instructors and editors recommend against using the passive voice, when possible. The reason for this is that when you use the active voice, your writing is clearer and less complicated.
- Active: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, a police officer pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket.
- Passive: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, he was pulled over and given a ticket by a police officer.
If it’s a long sentence and you know who the subject is, it’s best to use the active voice.
The passive is often used to report something or to state a fact.
- Highway 15 was closed yesterday due to a serious road accident.
- A lot of corn is grown in Iowa.
Forming the passive voice
The passive voice is not a tense in English. Each tense has its own passive voice which is created by using a form of the auxiliary verb to be + V3 (past participle)
The passive voice in each tense:
Tense | Auxiliary verb + sample V3 (past participle) | Examples |
Present simple | am, is, are + made | Wine is made from grapes. Many cars are made in Japan. |
Present progressive | am, is, are + being + sent | The document is being sent right now. I am being sent to work in the London office. |
Past simple | was, were + invited | John was invited to speak at the conference. We were invited to Daniel and Mary’s wedding. |
Past progressive | was, were + being + washed | The dog was being washed when I got home. Their cars were being washed while they were in the mall shopping. |
Future (will) | will be + signed | The contract will be signed tomorrow. The documents will all be signed by next week. |
Future (going to) | am, is, are + going to be + built | A bridge is going to be built within the next two years. New houses are going to be built in our neighborhood. |
Present perfect | has, have + been + sold | That start-up has been sold for $5 million. The rights to his book have been sold for $250,000. |
Past perfect | had + been + hired | The new manager had been hired before John left the company. All the employees had hired before the store opened. |
Future perfect | will + have been + finished | The car will have been loaded by the time he gets home. The crates will have been loaded by then. |
Modals: can/could | can, could + be + issued | A passport can only be issued at the embassy. He said the documents could be issued within the week. |
Modal: have to | have to, has to, had to + be + arranged | A babysitter has to be arranged for this evening. Joan’s travel plans have to be arranged by December. |
Modal: must | must + be + stopped | Criminals must be stopped before they commit crimes. |
All of the rules for passive negatives and questions are the same as for the active voice.
Note: Verbs that have no object (no one to “receive” the action) cannot be put into the passive, such as, arrive, come, die, exist, go, happen, have, live, occur sleep, etc.
Passive Voice – Exercises
Fill in the correct passive form of the verb in parentheses.
![How Do I Check For Passive Voice On Mac For Word How Do I Check For Passive Voice On Mac For Word](/uploads/1/1/9/8/119847336/732824544.jpg)
- After the earthquake, aid was sent to the people of Haiti. (sent)
- The electricity was cut off because the bill hadn’t been paid. (not pay)
- Penicillin ______ by Alexander Fleming in 1928. (discover)
- Statements ______ from all the witnesses at this moment. (take)
- Whales ______ by an international ban on whaling. (must protect)
- Both weddings _______ by Good Taste. (cater)
- A Picasso ____ from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.(steal)
- ____ this washing machine ______in Germany? (make)
- Tea _____ in China. (grow)
- When we reached the airport, we found that all the flights____ due to the storm. (cancel)
- The fax _____ until tomorrow morning. (not send)
- The soundtrack of a movie _____ always _____ after the filming is finished. (is/add)
Answers:
- was discovered
- are being taken
- must be protected
- were catered
- was stolen
- Was/made
- is grown
- had been cancelled
- won’t be sent
- is/added
The Passive Voice Sentences
The passive voice sentences turn the text weaker and make it sounds not so appealing. Comparatively, the active voice form of the sentence sounds more meaningful and appropriate. Many of the writers turn active voice sentences into passive voice ones to avoid plagiarism detection in their content. The use of active and passive voice corrector can make this problem simpler to sort out. Writing a sentence in passive voice requires the use of a comma. Therefore, it is divided into two parts to explain one thing.
How to Distinguish Active and Passive Voice?
When the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb – or passive, it changes the normal word order of many active sentences. It is known as Passive Voice. When the subject performs the action denoted by the verb and with an action verb, it is said to be as Active Voice. It can be a bit complex to identify whether a sentence is active or passive by going through it personally. The app to detect passive voice in the text can be helpful to find the differences between both types of sentences.
Five Valid Reasons to Show Active Voice Better
When it comes to finding how to spot passive voice misuse, we usually make serious mistakes in it. It is necessary to spot the passive voice wrong use because the expert English authors always come in favor of the active voice instead. The active vs passive voice finder can do this job for you.
Firstly, have a look at some purposes when the active voice is better for your text.
- To create an authoritative tone.
- To describe a condition in which the actor is unknown or unimportant.
- To be tactful by not naming the actor.
- To keep the subject and focus consistent throughout a passage.
- To describe a condition in which the actor is unknown or unimportant.
How to Identify Passive Voice?
How Do I Check For Passive Voice On Mac For Word Stacks
The passive voice sentences are not very complex to detect. There are some simple suggestions and tricks to figure out passive voice sentences.
- Go to find passive voice site. The online tool or webpage can help you out better if you’re not sure to do it personally.
- The use of “to be” in a sentence gives evidence of it as a passive.
- The presence of has, will be, being, will have been, was, is, am, are and have been shown that your spotted line is passive voice sentence.
- Look at what happened and look at who was responsible for doing it to detect the passive voice sentence.
The Passive and Active Voice Detector: How to Change Passive Voice into Active Voice?
The tool to replace passive voice sentence with an active voice one can do a better job. You can adapt to any passive voice sentences into the active voice by focussing on a few important examples.
This is a passive voice sentence:
“The post is read by the majority of my classmates.”
After changing it into the active voice sentence, it becomes:
“Most of my classmates are reading the post.”
This can be done by a good passive voice and active voice detector. Similarly, you can also do perform this task manually.
How Do I Check For Passive Voice On Mac For Word Free
The Job of Active Voice Checker to Turn Passive into Active Voice Form
The very first job is of the detection of the passive voice sentence. It requires you to know about the certain traits of passive voice sentences. This tool also finds the grammatical mistakes in the content. The next part is to figure out the punctuation errors in the given sentence. The vocabulary errors are also rectified so that the final version of the active voice sentence can be used. You simply have to copy and paste the sentence in the provided field. This will help you to save the time and mental energy required for the manual job. Make sure that the manual work requires you to know about the best writing technique.
How to Register to Use Active Voice Checker?
You have the simple process to sign for the website or tool required for active voice checking. The same procedure works for the passive voice identifier. Follow these steps and do this job in an ideal manner.
- Copy and paste the text into the given space. You can download it for free in any browser.
- Click on the ‘submit’ option and get the converted form of the text.
- You can also click on some other options i.e. grammar checking, punctuation identifier, etc.
- Now, you can enjoy the fully edited version of the document (that has been turned into an active voice sentence.)
Pros of Our Active Voice Passive Voice Detector
There are plenty of options when you search for the active and passive voice detection tool. Our active voice checker online, free has a bundle of great features to get the best form of well-written sentences. Likewise, the passive voice checking tool is also worth-trying for the best results. Here are some amazing benefits of using our software. You’ll love to have it.
- Check the active and passive voice misuse instantly.
- The services are free and there’s no need to pay for using any feature.
- Installation is not required.
- Services are available in an extensive range (word count check, correct grammar and spelling check, plagiarism check, etc)
- Using with a chrome extension.
- Easy to access and simple.
- There is no limit to using this tool. You can enjoy all of its features as many times you like. This really sounds good to many people. You must try this tool and live with peace of mind.