What is the difference between the active and passive voice?
Short answer
In the active voice, the subject does the action: "The teacher marked the tests." In the passive voice, the subject receives the action: "The tests were marked by the teacher." The passive is formed with the verb to be plus the past participle, and is useful when the doer is unknown or less important.
Step by step
- Find the object of the active sentence. It becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
- Put the verb to be in the same tense as the original verb.
- Add the past participle of the main verb.
- Add by plus the doer only if it matters.
Worked example
Change to the passive
- Active: Engineers built the bridge in 2010.
- Passive: The bridge was built in 2010.
- Active: They will announce the results tomorrow.
- Passive: The results will be announced tomorrow.
Common mistakes
- Changing the tense when switching voice.
- Using the simple past instead of the past participle: was wrote instead of was written.
- Overusing the passive in stories, which can make writing feel flat.
Useful for:KS2 SATsKS3GCSEWAECBEPC
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