Active and Passive Voice

Active and Passive Voice
In addition to showing time through tense, action verbs also show whether the subject per-
forms the action or receives the action. This is called a verb’s voice. English verbs have two
voices: activeand passive. (Linking verbs do not show voice.)
1.A verb is activewhen the subject performs the action.
We took the package home. (“We” are doing the action.)
I served a delicious meal. (“I” am doing the serving.)
Notice that in the active voice, the sentence starts with the subject. The first sentence
starts with We. The second sentence starts with I.
2.A verb is passive when its action is performed upon the subject.

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A package was taken home. (The speaker is not indicated.)
A delicious meal was served by me.
Notice that in the passive voice, the sentence does notstart with the subject. The first sen-
tence starts with the object, “a package.” The second sentence starts with the object, “a
delicious meal.”
In general, use the active voice whenever possible because it is more direct and forceful.
Using the active voice makes your writing crisp and powerful. The active verb is one word
rather than two. Further, there is no need for a prepositional phrase beginning with “by” if
you use the active voice.
Using the passive voice is preferable over the active voice under two conditions:
You don’t want to assign blame.
A mistake occurred with the filing system.
Not surprisingly, the passive voice is very often found in business writing and speech. This
helps the writer or speaker avoid “finger pointing.”
You don’t know who did the action.
A.M.
A prank phone call was made at 2:00
W
a
r
a
s
’
p
A verb’s tense shows when the action takes place. Use the right order of
t
I
?
tenses to show the correct order of events.
English verbs are divided into two classes: regular and irregular. These
?
classifications come from the way the verb forms its past tense and past
participles.
Voice shows whether the subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive
?
voice). In general, use the active voice instead of the passive voice.
QUESTIONS
True-False Questions
Test
Yourself
1.English has six verb tenses. Each of the six tenses has two forms: basic and progres-
sive (also known as “perfect”).
2.The progressive form shows action, occurrence, or state of being that is taking place
right here and now.
3.The tense of English verbs is formed from helping verbs and principal parts.
4.There are eight different past tenses. Each one indicates a subtle shift in time.
5.The past tense and past participle forms of irregular verbs are created by adding -d,
-ed, or -tto the present form but the vowel doesn’t change.

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6. Lie means “to be in a reclining position.” Lie conjugates to lie, lay, lain.
7. Laymeans “to put down.” Layconjugates to lay, laid, laid.
8.Use the two past verb forms to show events that take place now.
9.Use the six past forms (simple past, present perfect, past perfect, past progressive,
present perfect progressive, past perfect progressive) to show events that took place
before the present.
10.Use the four future forms (simple future, future perfect, future progressive, future
perfect progressive) to show events that take place in the future.
Completion Questions
Select the word that best completes each sentence.
1.Croatia (is, was) the first country to recognize the United States in 1776.
2.Ross Perot (resign, resigned, resigning) from the General Motors board of directors
because of its decision to purchase Hughes Aircraft Company.
3.John Wilkes Booth (shotted, shot, shooted) Lincoln in a theater and was found in a
warehouse.
4.Theodore Roosevelt (won, winned, wonned) the Nobel Prize for his arbitration of
treaty discussions at the end of the Russo-Japanese War.
5.The Dominican Republic was called Santo Domingo when it first (gained, gain)
independence.
6.The national anthem of the Netherlands is the oldest national anthem in the world:
The music (appeart, appeared) in 1572, the lyrics in 1590.
7.James Garfield could (wrote, write) Latin with one hand and Greek with the
other—simultaneously.
8.Before Bill Clinton, no left-handed American president had ever (serve, served)
two terms.
9.Only three Presidents (have graduated, graduate) from the military academies:
Grant and Eisenhower from West Point, and Carter from Annapolis.
10.The U.S. Constitution stipulates that, to be eligible for the Presidency, a candidate
must be a natural-born citizen, must (have lived, live) in the United States for a min-
imum of 14 years, and must be at least 35 years old.
11.Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to have a presidential aircraft, but
he only (flewed, flew) on the airplane once, to travel to the Yalta conference during
World War II.
12.Of all U.S. presidents, none (live, lived) to be older than John Adams, who died at
the age of 91.
13.John Quincy Adams (taked, took) his last skinny-dip in the Potomac on his seventy-
ninth birthday.

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14.All U.S. presidents (have worn, weared, have weared) glasses, but some of these
men didn’t like to be seen wearing eyeglasses in public.
15.When Harry Truman left office in 1952, he (get, got) in his own car and (drived,
drove) himself back to Missouri.
Multiple-Choice Questions
Select the best answer for each question.
1.There are four basic types of verbs:
(a)Action verbs, linking verbs, helping verbs, verb phrases
(b)Helping verbs, action verbs, gerunds, participles
(c)Helping verbs, verb phrases, active verbs, passive verbs
(d)Action verbs, normal verbs, regular verbs, irregular verbs
2.When applied to verbs, the word tense indicates
(a)How many subjects act or receive the action
(b)Who or what experiences the action
(c)When the action takes place: past, present, or future
(d)The attitude expressed toward the action
3.To show the future tense, English uses the helping verb
(a)Has
(b)Have
(c)Are
(d)Will
4.The past participleforms all the following tenses except
(a)Future perfect
(b)The past perfect
(c)Present perfect
(d)The active voice
5.The past tense of the verb to give is
(a)Gived
(b)Gave
(c)Have given
(d)Gaved
6.The present participle of to lie(to be in a horizontal position) is
(a)Lying
(b)Lay
(c)Have lain
(d)Lie

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7.The past tense of the verb to freezeis
(a)Freezed
(b)Have froze
(c)Froze
(d)Frozed
8.The past participle of the verb to writeis
(a)Writing
(b)Have written
(c)Wrote
(d)Writed
9.The verb to beincludes all the following principal parts except
(a)Being, was
(b)Has, have
(c)Been, am
(d)Are, is
10.Which of the following sentences is in the active voice?
(a)Plans for an assisted-living center were revealed by the city council at yester-
day’s meeting.
(b)The package was opened by my cousin Louie.
(c)At noon, the gates to the stadium were finally opened.
(d)A snail can sleep for three years.
11.Which of the following sentences is in the passive voice?
(a)The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
(b)A dentist invented the electric chair.
(c)You share your birthday with at least nine million other people in the world.
(d)You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous
spider.
12.You should use the active voice whenever possible for all the following reasons except
(a)It creates a sentence that is direct and to the point.
(b)It creates a shorter sentence and is thus easier to read.
(c)It emphasizes the receiver of the action rather than the doer of the action.
(d)It emphasizes the doer of the action rather than the receiver of the action.
ANSWER KEY
True-False
1. T2. F3. T4. F5. F6. T7. T8. F9. T10. T

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Completion Questions
1. was2. resigned3. shot4. won5. gained6. appeared7. write
8. served9. have graduated10. have lived11. flew12. lived13. took
14. have worn15. got, drove
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. a2. c3. d4. d5. b6. a7. c8. b9. b10. d11. a12. c