A sentence can be written in two different ways to show whether the subject performs an action (active voice) or receives the action (passive voice). Most sentences are written in the active voice. Why passive sentences are sometimes preferred is explained in Part 4.
Examples:
- Active sentence: The snake has swallowed a rodent.
- Passive sentence: A rodent has been swallowed by the snake.
(Has been is a form of the verb be. Swallowed is the past participle of the verb swallow. The preposition by has to be used here; otherwise, no one knows what swallowed the rodent.)
- Active sentence: The mosquitoes are biting me tonight.
- Passive sentence: I am being bitten by mosquitoes tonight.
(Am being is a form of the verb be. Bitten is the past participle of bite.)
Examples:
- Active: I left the groceries in the boot of my car.
- Passive: The groceries were left in the boot of my car.
(The car driver is certainly the person who left the groceries in the car)
- Active: They smuggled immigrants across the border.
- Passive: The immigrants were smuggled across the border.
(It is understood that the smuggling was done by smugglers, so the preposition by is not applicable here, unless the smuggling was carried out by a specific party that need to be named.)
Examples:
- He ran away.
- The sun shines brightly.
- The boss feels tired today.
Examples:
- Active: She cut the paper with a pair of scissors.
- Passive: The paper was cut (by her) with a pair of scissors.
- Active: He beat another prisoner with a metal bar.
- Passive: The prisoner was beaten with a metal Passive:
Phrasal verbs: knock down and look down on.
Examples:
- Active: They knocked down the front wall for some renovation work.
- Passive: The front wall was knocked down for some renovation work.
- Active: He feels his family looks down on him because he has little formal education.
- Passive: He feels he is being looked down on by his family because he has little formal education.