Voice Change Part One

What’s the voice change?

Voice is the form of the verb in the sentence that shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon. Such as – “A mango is eaten by me” “Rice is eaten my him”

Types of Voices:

(1)  Active Voice à I eat a mango.

(2)  Passive Voice à A mango is eaten by me.

Active voice is the voice when subject becomes doer in the sentence. And on other hand, Passive voice is that when subject becomes doee. Therefore, I don’t need to discuss more about it because I have given two examples above to know the difference between Active and Passive voice.

See the tables given below and remember because you need them when you go for changing Active voice to Passive voice. 

Table – 01

Subjective Case (Subject of Active Voice)	Objective Case (Object of Passive Voice)
I	Me
We	Us
You	You
She	Her
He	Him
They	Them
It	It

Note: The sentence which has no object cannot be changed to Passive voice such as – “She dances” (she = subject, dance = verb) therefore, the sentence does not contain object and you cannot change it to Passive voice.

Passive Voice Table – 02

Tense	Auxiliary Verb (Passive form)
Present Indefinite	am, is are
Present Continuous	am being, is being, are being
Present Perfect	has been, have been
Past Indefinite	was, were
Past Continuous	was being, were being
Past Perfect	had been
Future Indefinite	shall be, will be
Future Continuous	shall be being, will be being
Future Perfect	shall have been, will have been

	I                       eat                 rice Sub                 m. verb            obj

 

Sub = subject, m. verb = main verb, obj = object

Transformation of Active voice into Passive voice:

Before changing the sentence from active to passive you have to notice the form of tense of the sentence because according to the second table you have to use auxiliary verb. See the example given below.

It’s very easy for students to transform from Active voice to Passive voice because every rule of transformation is same. But there are also some different things that I will discuss in details. 

Idea of Changing Active to Passive with a Picture:

Present Indefinite Tense:

“Structure: subject + main verb (present form) + object/extension” 

Active: I eat a mango

Passive: A mango is eaten by me

Passive: Object of the active voice + am/is/are + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice.

Rule of Changing:

·        + (A mango) the object of active voice becomes subject of passive voice.

·        + (is) is an auxiliary verb is used according to the tense of the Active voice. See the table 02 given above.

·        + (eaten) is the past participle form of the main verb – “eat” that must be past participle (p.p) in the Passive voice.

·        + By is used according to the rule of Passive voice.

·        + (me) the subject of the active voice becomes object of the passive voice which changed following the table – 01. See the table right now.

 

Active: I know him

Passive: He is known to me

Rule of Changing:

·        + (He) the object of the active voice becomes subject of passive voice. See the table 02 given above.

·        + (is) is an auxiliary verb is used according to the tense of the active voice. See the table 02 given above.

·        + (known) is the past participle form of the main verb – “know” which must be past participle in the voice.

·        + (to) is used according to the rule of passive voice.

·        + (me) the subject of the active voice becomes object of the passive voice which changed following the table – 01. See the table right now.

Note: According to the rule we know “BY” is used in the passive voice but in the second sentence “TO” is used in place of “BY”. According to the rule “TO” must be used if there is “KNOW” used as verb in the active sentence. 

Present Continuous Tense:

“Structure: Subject + am/is/are + verb (ing) + object/extension”

Active: She is reading a book

Passive: A book is being read by her

Passive: object of active voice + am being/is being/are being + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice.

·        (A book) The object of active voice becomes subject of passive voice.

·        (Is being) is an auxiliary verb is used according to the tense of the active voice and see the table 02 given above.

·        (Read) is a participle form of the verb used according to the rule.

·        (By) is used according to the rule.

·        (“Her” comes from “she”) the subject of the active voice becomes object of the passive voice. To understand more please see the table 01 given above.

There are many examples given below as to make you understand more.

Active: You are drinking milk.	Passive: Mill is being drunken by you.
Active: She is eating rice.	Passive: Rice is being eaten by her.
Active: We are making baskets.	Passive: Baskets are being made by us.

                       

                       

Present perfect tense:

“Structure: Subject + have/has + verb (past participle) + object/extension”

Active: I have eaten rice.	Passive: Rice has been eaten by me.
Active: He has known them.	Passive: They have been known to him.

                       

Passive: object of active voice + have been/has been + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice

Active: She has broken the glass.	Passive: The glass has been broken by her.
Active: Mother has given me a glass.	Passive: A glass has been given me by mother. Or Passive: I have been given a glass by mother.

                                                                       

Past indefinite tense:

“Structure: Subject + v (past form) + object/extension”

Active: I ate rice.

Active: He caught a bird.

Passive: object of active voice + was/were + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice.

Active: I ate rice.	Passive: Rice was eaten by me.
Active: He caught a bird.	Passive: A bird was caught by him.
Active: I knew them.	Passive: They were known to me.

           

           

Past Continuous Tense:

“Structure: subject + was/were + verb (ing) + object/extension”

Active: I was cooking rice	Passive: Rice was being cooked by me
Active: We were reading a poem	Passive: A poem was being read by us

           

Passive: Object of the active voice + was being/were being + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice.

Active: They were cutting down trees	Passive: Trees were being cut down by them.
Active: People were making noise	Passive: Noise was being made by people.
Active: They were helping me	Passive: I was being helped by them.

                       

Past Perfect Tense:

“Structure: Subject + had + verb (p.p) + object/extension + clause”

Active: I had eaten rice before I went there

Passive: Object of the active voice + had been + verb (p.p) + by + subject of the active voice.

Active: I had eaten rice before I went there	Passive: Rice had been eaten by me before I went there.
Active: She had called me before I awoke	Passive: I had been called by her before I awoke.
Active: I had read the letter	Passive: The letter had been read by me
Active: Mother had cooked rice before we completed our study	Passive: Rice had been cooked by mother before we completed our study
Active: The cat had drunk the milk before we could see it	Passive: The milk had been drunk by the cat before we could see it