Verbs: Active and Passive Voice — Flashcards

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Active voice is a verb form used to say what the subject does. It is usually simple, direct, and easy to understand. Example: Somebody picked my pocket yesterday.

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Passive voice is a verb form used to say what is done to the subject. It is formed with the past participle plus a form of auxiliary be. Example: My pocket was picked yesterday.

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Active voice is considered simple, elegant, and easier to understand. It is the normal way to express actions unless there is a special reason to use the passive voice.

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Passive voice is preferred when the doer is unknown. Example: My pocket was picked in the fair. The action is clear, but the person who did it is not known.

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Passive voice is preferred when the action itself is more important than who performed it. Example: India was partitioned in 1947. The event matters more than the doer.

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Intransitive verbs are verbs which do not take objects. They cannot be expressed in the passive voice. Examples: laughed, is going.

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A phrasal or prepositional verb like laughed at can be passivised even though laughed alone cannot. The passive form is: The beggar was laughed at.

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Passive voice is formed using the past participle form of the verb along with an appropriate form of the auxiliary be. Example: invite changes to is invited, was invited, or will be invited depending …