Voice

Created: Wednesday, 17 August 2011 09:21 | Published: Wednesday, 17 August 2011 09:21 | Written by Super User | Print | Email

What is Voice?

This is a form of verb that shows whether the subject of a sentence performs the action or is affected by it. There are 2 special forms for verbs. These are called voice.

1. Active Voice 2. Passive Voice

Active Voice

The Active Voice is the normal voice which is used most of the times. Here the object receives the action of the word. It shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject does something. It is called the active voice because the person denoted by the subject acts. Sentences in active voice are short.

Example:
•    Dogs eat meat.
•    Sarah plays the guitar.
•    Deanna killed an ant.

Passive Voice

Passive Voice is less usual. Here the subject receives the action of the verb. A verb is in passive voice when its form shows that some thing is done to the person or thing denoted by the subject. This thing is passive, that is suffers or receives some action.

Example:
•    Meat is eaten by dogs.
•    The guitar is played by Sarah.
•    An ant was killed by Deanna.

Change from Active to Passive Voice.

When we change a sentence from Active Voice to Passive Voice, the tense of the verb remains the same.

Example:
•    Rita wrote a letter.
•    A letter was written by Rita.
•    Someone must have stolen the bracelet.
•    The bracelet was stolen by someone.

To change a sentence fro active to passive voice:

1.    Move the active sentence’s direct object into the sentence’s subject slot.
•    Nita sent a parcel                                     A parcel
           Direct object                  Subject

2.    Place the active sentence’s subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition by
•    Nita sent a parcel          A parcel was sent by Nita
           Subject                                Prepositional phrase

3.    Add a form of auxiliary verb to the main verb’s form.
•    Nita sent a parcel                                                The parcel was sent by Nita.
        Verb                                          Verb + be auxiliary

Change from Passive to Active Voice.

To change passive voice to active voice the subject of the sentence must be recognized and then the sentence should be rewritten so that the subject is before the object.

Example:
1. Reading is enjoyed by Lata.
• Lata enjoyed reading.

2. The house was destroyed by fire.
• Fire destroyed the house.

When we change a passive sentence to an active sentence we should

1.    Move the passive sentence’s subject into the active sentence’s direct slot.
The parcel was sent by Nita                       sent the parcel.
            Subject                               direct object

2.    Remove the auxiliary verb be from the main verb and change the verb’s form if necessary.
The parcel was sent                                 sent the parcel.
           Be auxiliary

3.    Place the passive sentence’s object of the preposition by into the subject slot.

     By Nita                                            Nita sent
Object of preposition by                          subject

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