How do you change active and passive voice?

Answer 1

Starting with a sentence in the active voice, you change the object into the subject. Then you add the verb "to be" in the appropriate tense before the root verb. You can add the former subject after the word "by"

E.g. "John hits Jim" "Jim" is the object, so he is now our subject. We add the present tense of "to be", which in this case is "is" and the root verb "hit" and "by" followed by the former subject "John". The sentence reads "Jim is hit by John."

In the past tense "John hit Jim" becomes "Jim was hit by John". In the future, "John will hit Jim" becomes "Jim will be hit by John."

A more complicated example: "The revolutionary tribunal sentenced the poor man to five years hard labour." becomes "The poor man was sentenced to five years hard labour by the revolutionary tribunal."

Answer 2

To change from active voice to passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent (or is omitted). The verb is then changed to the passive form (usually a form of "to be" + past participle). To change from passive to active voice, identify the subject performing the action and make it the subject of the active sentence, then reformulate the sentence using an active verb.