English Grammar - Verbs and Voice

Voice is another strange word to use for verbs and again, the word "voice" has nothing to do with speaking deeply, loudly, or softly. The "voice" of a verb has to do with whether or not the subject of a sentence acts upon something else (as agent) or whether the subject is acted upon (by an agent).

The verb is active, when the subject (agent) does the action (verb) to something (object).
The verb is passive, when the subject takes the action upon itself.

Examples:   active  - John ate the apples.

        John, the subject, is the one
        performing the action of the verb.

            passive - The apples were eaten by John.

        The apples, the subject in this sentence,
        are receiving the action of the verb.


            active - Martha asked the professor a question.
            passive - The professor was asked a question by Martha.

        Martha is the one doing the asking in both cases,
        but she is the subject only in the first sentence.

Passive Voice

Passive voice verbs either delay the real subject or erase it completely. The passive verb, while sometimes necessary, requires more words than the active verb, has less impact than the active verb, and generally suggests passivity, hesitancy, or a lack of clarity on the part of the writer.

Active voice, however, foregrounds the real agent of the action, provides force and clarity in one's statements, and avoids wordiness in sentence constructions. Active voice is performative; passive is static, even though action and agency seem to exist in the sentence.

Recognizing Passive Constructions

Passive voice is quite easy to recognize.

      Step 1 Find any form of the verb "to be": is, was, were, will be, will have been, would be and so on. Note that tense does not affect voice; passive can take any tense.

      Step 2 Is that form of the verb "to be" followed by a past tense verb? (watched, threatened, considered, thought, and so on.

      Step 3 Does the word "by" appear after the whole verb or can you put the word "by" after the combination of the "to be" verb and the past tense verb (which is actually a past participle when it follows the "to be" verb)? The word "by" does not have to appear in the sentence in order for the verb to be well and truly passive.

Turning Passive Voice into Active

Find the action, find the agent, and then place the agent in front of the action.

Passive Voice

Hamlet     was written     by  Shakespeare.

(grammatical
 subject)   (to be) (past participle)   (real agent of the
                        action of writing)

Clearly, "was written" is the passive voice verb.

Active Voice

Shakespeare     wrote           Hamlet.

(agent: doer    (simple past tense) (object of the action)
of the action)

Here, "wrote" is the active verb.
The agent is now in front of the action (verb) that it is responsible for.