Active vs Passive Voice: Examples and How to Change Them

By Eduminate

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In active vs passive voice, the difference is who does the action. In active voice the subject does the action: The dog chased the ball. In passive voice the subject receives the action: The ball was chased by the dog. This page gives a clear test for passive voice, steps for changing a sentence from one voice to the other, and advice on when each voice works best.

Active vs passive voice at a glance

	Active voice	Passive voice
The subject	Does the action	Receives the action
Verb pattern	An ordinary verb	A form of be + past participle
Example	The dog chased the ball.	The ball was chased by the dog.

What is passive voice

What is passive voice? This is the passive voice definition in plain words: a sentence is passive when the subject receives the action instead of doing it.

The passive has a set pattern: a form of be + the past participle of the main verb, and often by + the doer.

Forms of be: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being.
The past participle is the verb form used after have: chased, broken, written. Many are irregular, and our irregular verbs list shows them.

In The ball was chased by the dog, was is the form of be, chased is the past participle, and by the dog names the doer.

Active voice examples

These active voice examples sit next to their passive versions. Every pair has the same meaning.

Active	Passive
The chef cooks the meal.	The meal is cooked by the chef.
Maria painted the fence.	The fence was painted by Maria.
The teacher will read the story.	The story will be read by the teacher.
Workers built the bridge.	The bridge was built by workers.
The children eat lunch at noon.	Lunch is eaten by the children at noon.
Mia broke the window.	The window was broken by Mia.

In each active sentence the subject (the chef, Maria, the teacher) is the one performing the action. Active sentences name the doer first, so they tend to be short and direct.

Passive voice examples

These passive voice examples show how the sentences read. Some name the doer with by and some leave it out.

The window was broken. (The doer is not named.)
The homework was finished before dinner. (No doer named.)
The letter was written by my grandmother. (Doer named with by.)
The cookies were baked by the students. (Doer named.)
Mistakes were made. (The doer is hidden.)
The bridge is cleaned every week. (No doer named, present tense.)

Passive voice sentences without by are allowed. Writers use them when the writer does not know who did the action, does not want to say, or does not think it matters.

How to identify passive voice

To identify passive voice, follow three steps:

Find the verb. Look at the whole verb phrase, not only one word.
Check for be + past participle. Is there a form of be followed by a word like chased, written or broken?
Ask who does the action. Does the subject do it, or does the subject receive it?

A quick check: try adding by and a doer after the verb phrase. If the sentence still makes sense, it is passive. The ball was chased by the dog works, so it is passive. The dog chased the ball is active: there is no form of be before the verb.

If the word after be is an adjective, such as tall or happy, the sentence is not passive. The girl was happy describes the girl and has no action to receive.

Active to passive voice

Changing active to passive voice takes four steps:

Find the object (the thing that receives the action).
Move it to the front as the new subject.
Use be + past participle, with be in the same tense as the original verb and agreeing with the new subject.
Add by + the old subject if you want to name the doer.

Three examples in different tenses:

Present: The chef cooks the meal. The object is the meal. The verb cooks is present, so use is cooked. Result: The meal is cooked by the chef.
Past: Maria painted the fence. The object is the fence. Use was painted. Result: The fence was painted by Maria.
Future: The teacher will read the story. The object is the story. Use will be read. Result: The story will be read by the teacher.

With a plural object, the verb changes to match: The students wrote the reports becomes The reports were written by the students. The new subject is plural, so the verb is were. For help with matching verbs to subjects, see our post on subject verb agreement rules. Students who are ready to practice can use the active to passive voice pack, a grade 8 set with multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank and sentence rewriting practice, plus an answer key, a teacher key and a lesson plan.

Passive to active

Reverse the steps to go from passive to active:

Find the doer. It is usually the word group after by.
Make the doer the subject.
Change the verb to the matching active tense, and make the old subject the object.

Examples: The ball was chased by the dog becomes The dog chased the ball. The tests will be graded by the teacher becomes The teacher will grade the tests.

If the passive sentence has no by phrase, the writer must supply a doer. The window was broken could become Someone broke the window, or a specific name if you know it.

Active and passive voice examples by tense

The same verb can be passive in every tense. This table gives active and passive voice examples for four tenses.

Tense	Active	Passive
Simple present	The chef cooks the meal.	The meal is cooked by the chef.
Simple past	The dog chased the ball.	The ball was chased by the dog.
Present perfect	The students have finished the project.	The project has been finished by the students.
Simple future	The teacher will grade the tests.	The tests will be graded by the teacher.

In the passive, only the form of be changes with the tense: is, was, has been, will be. The main verb stays in its past participle form.

When to use passive voice

Passive voice is not wrong. Passive voice works well in these cases:

The doer is unknown: My bike was stolen.
The doer is not important: The road was repaired last month.
The doer is obvious: The mayor was elected last year.
The action matters more than the doer, as in science and report writing: The mixture was heated and then cooled.

For passive voice in writing, ask whether the doer matters. Active voice is usually clearer for everyday writing, because it is shorter and names who does what. Compare The team made a plan with A plan was made by the team. Both are correct, but the first gets to the point faster. When the doer matters, prefer active.

Common mistakes

Problem sentence	Better	Why
The window was broke by Mia.	The window was broken by Mia.	The passive needs the past participle, broken.
The fence painted by Maria.	The fence was painted by Maria.	The form of be is missing.
The ball was chased the dog.	The ball was chased by the dog.	The doer needs by.
The tests was graded.	The tests were graded.	Be must agree with the plural subject.
Mistakes were made.	The team made mistakes.	Both are grammatical, but the passive hides who made them. Use active when the doer matters.

Ways to teach it

Sentence flip cards

Write an active sentence on the front of a card and the passive version on the back. Students read the front, try to say the passive version, then flip to check.

Highlight the verb

Give students a short paragraph and have them highlight every verb phrase. Then they circle the ones with be + past participle.

Rewrite a short report paragraph in active voice

Give a paragraph written mostly in passive voice. Students rewrite it in active voice, adding doers where needed, and then discuss which version reads more clearly.

Practice material

For students in grades 6 to 8, the active and passive voice pack has four practice parts, a full answer key, a student answer sheet and a lesson plan.

The active and passive voice and reported speech bundle has four packets on turning one sentence into another: two sets of active and passive voice practice and two sets of direct and indirect speech. It runs 208 pages, for grades 5 to 8.

Reported speech is a neighboring topic. The direct and indirect speech packet has 32 pages and 50 questions across 5 sections, for grades 5 to 8, and a reported speech set is listed for grade 7.

Frequently asked questions

Is passive voice always wrong?

No. It is useful when the doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious, and it is often used in science and report writing. Active voice is often clearer, but a good writer uses both.

Can every active sentence become passive?

No. Only sentences with an object can be turned around. In The baby slept, there is no object, so there is nothing to move to the front. The same is true of They arrived late.

What grade learns active and passive voice?

Schools differ, so check your curriculum. For reference, our active and passive voice packs are listed for grades 6 to 8 and for grade 8, and the bundle for grades 5 to 8.

What is the difference between passive voice and past tense?

Tense tells when something happens. Voice tells who does the action. The passive can be in any tense: is chased is present, was chased is past and will be chased is future. A past tense sentence can also be active, like The dog chased the ball.