How do you rewrite passive voice sentences to make them active voice sentences?

Answer 1

In passive sentences the doer of the verb is not usually given. Or if it is given then it is - by + noun

, this is called the agent eg

The mouse was chased by the cat

.

The agent becomes the subject of an active sentence eg:

The cat

chased the mouse.

If the agent is not given in the passive sentence you have to find out who or what does the action to make passive into active. eg

The Mona Lisa was painted in the 16th century. -- passive

_________ painted the Mona Lisa in the 16th century. -- active.

Or you could use a word like 'someone' eg

passive - The cake was eaten (by someone)

active - Someone ate the cake.

Answer 2

CHANGE OF VOICE

First of all try to understand the Voice of the Verb.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

The Passive Voice is often preferred when we are

Not

interested in the question of who or whatperformed the action. The

Doer

of the action is generally Not mentioned.

Example

Naughty students are punished.

Who punishes the naughty students?

We do not know; or if we do, we are not interested. It is the result that interests us.

Rewrite these sentences in the Passive Voice.

The subject of the Active Voice need not

be used in your answers.

1.

Somebody has broken the lock.

(The lock has been broken.)

2.

The doctor is going to vaccinate me tomorrow.

(We are going to be vaccinated tomorrow.)

3.

She was pouring the tea when I entered the room.

4.

No one has signed this cheque.

5.

They postponed the match because of rain.

Now consider the following sentences:

William Davies has written this poem.

This poem has been written by William Davies.

The second sentence, in the Passive Voice,

indicates that our main interest is in the poem

and our secondary interest is in its poet.

If a statement about who or what performed an

action is needed, the preposition

by

is used.

Rewrite the sentences below in the Passive Voice. Retain the subject of the Active Voice by using

by

.

1.

Everyone praises the Principal.

(The Principal is praised

by everyone

.)

2.

She is washing clothes.

(Clothes are being washed

by her

.)

3.

An earthquake destroyed Balakot in 2005.

4.

I won the first prize.

Points to remember:

1.

Only transitive verbs have Passive Voice.

2.

The object (the receiver of the action) in the passive voice is given more importance than the subject (the doer of the action).

3.

The object takes the place of the subject and the subject takes the place of the object. In other words, the object becomes the subject and the subject becomes the object.

4.

The doer of the action is introduced by the preposition by followed by the object case of the pronoun (if the doer is a pronoun).

5.

The past participle (III-form) of the verb shows the passive voice in all tenses.

Transformation of active to passive in Present tense:

I like apples

Apples are liked (by me).

John is eating apples.

Apples are being eaten (by John).

They have bout new books.

New books have been bought (by them0.

Passive voice of Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive ) Tense is not used.

Past Tense:

He bought a book.

A book was bought by him.

They were writing letters.

Letters were being written by them.

They had eaten apples.

Apples had been eaten by them.

Future:

We shall play hockey.

Hockey will be played by us.

They will have bought new pens.

New pens will have been bought by them.

Answer 3

Most sentences are active sentences.

In an active sentence you can see who or what does the action of the verb eg

The cat chased the mouse.

-- In this sentence we can see the cat

does the action chase

.

The mouse was chased.

-- This is a passive sentence. We can't see in this sentence who or what does the action.

Active sentences have the form -- Subject + verb + object.

Here are some examples the subject

verb

and object

are marked:

Yesterday We

went

to the supermarket

.

She

has been

to Japan

ten times.

I

get home

about 6:30pm.

She

is reading

a book

about minerals.

Answer 4

When one has a sentence in the active voice it can be changed into the passive voice by adding the correct form of the verb "to be" and changing the object of the active sentence into the subject of the new sentence. The verb from the previous sentence is changed to the past participle form. The subject can either be eliminated from the new sentence or introduced at the end using the preposition "by".

Active: People make cider from apples.

Passive: Cider is made from apples.

Active: Someone killed John yesterday.

Passive: John was killed yesterday.

Active: Stanley Kubrick directed Full Metal Jacket.

Passive: Full Metal Jacket was directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Active: Inspector Morgan is interrogating the suspect.

Passive: The suspect is being interrogated by Inspector Morgan.

Answer 5

Here is an example of an active sentence versus a passive sentence:

Congress created a new bill, which the president signed into law: all school buses must stop at railroad crossings. (Active)

A new bill was created and signed into law: all school buses must stop at railroad crossings. (Passive)

ALSO:

With passive sentences you can say who or what does the action (verb) by adding by + noun/ noun phrase.

A new bill was created and signed into law by congress: all school buses must stop at railroad crossings.

Answer 6

To make the passive voice, (1) take the direct object of the active sentence and make it the subject; (2) take the verb and convert it into its past participle - add the suffix -ed / -en (depending on the verb) and add the auxiliary verb "to be", and (3) take the subject of the active sentence and put it at the end with the preposition "by".

Example:

John wrote the letter = The letter was written by John.

Mary places the box on the shelf = The box is placed on the shelf by Mary.

Note that you can leave out the subject of the active sentence: The letter was written, the box is placed on the shelf. This is usually done when you don't know or don't care who is doing the action.

Also, remember that not all English verbs use -ed / -en to form their past participle.

For instance: Bob read the book = the book was read (by Bob)

To make a passive sentence into active, (1) take the subject of the passive sentence and turn it into the object, (2) take the verb and get rid of the "to be" and change the main verb from the participle to the regular form (take off the -ed / -en, and (3) move the object of the "by" from the passive sentence into the subject slot.

Note that not all passive sentences have "by"s, so you will have to come up with it.

Example:

The dog was bought by the man = the man bought the dog

This book was written by Steven King = Steven King wrote this book

The plane was shot down = Someone shot down the plane

The letter was mailed yesterday = They mailed the letter yesterday

Finally, only verbs with direct objects can be made passive.