Tuesday, September 23, 2014

active and passive voice

Harry ate six shrimp at dinner. (active)
At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry. (passive)
Beautiful giraffes roam the savannah. (active)
The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes. (passive)
Sue changed the flat tire. (active)
The flat tire was changed by Sue. (passive)
We are going to watch a movie tonight. (active)
A movie is going to be watched by us tonight. (passive)
I ran the obstacle course in record time. (active)
The obstacle course was run by me in record time. (passive)
The crew paved the entire stretch of highway. (active)
The entire stretch of highway was paved by the crew. (passive)

Active and passive voice

Active voice describes a sentence where the subject performs the action stated by the verb.  In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon by the verb. Check out the examples below. Need more explanation? Check out the YourDictionary Active vs. Passive Voice