Active and Passive Voice: Rules, Examples, and Exercises
Choosing between active and passive voice isn't just a grammar rule — it changes what your sentence emphasizes and how confident it sounds. This guide explains the difference clearly, when each is appropriate, and gives you exercises to practice converting one to the other.
What Is Active Voice?
In active voice, the subject performs the action.
The teacher explained the lesson.
Subject (teacher) → action verb (explained) → object (the lesson).
What Is Passive Voice?
In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The performer of the action is optional and often introduced with "by."
The lesson was explained by the teacher.
Passive voice is formed with to be + past participle.
Active vs Passive: Side-by-Side Examples
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| She wrote the report. | The report was written by her. |
| They are building a new school. | A new school is being built. |
| The company launched the product. | The product was launched by the company. |
| Someone stole my phone. | My phone was stolen. |
When to Use Active Voice
- Most everyday writing and speaking (clearer, more direct)
- When you want to emphasize who did the action
- Business and professional communication, including emails — see our proper email structure guide for how active voice keeps emails clear and confident
When to Use Passive Voice
- When the performer of the action is unknown or unimportant ("My car was stolen")
- In scientific or formal writing, to keep focus on the process rather than the person ("The experiment was conducted over six weeks")
- To avoid assigning blame directly ("Mistakes were made" instead of "You made mistakes")
Common Mistakes
- Overusing passive voice, which can make writing sound vague or overly formal when active voice would be clearer.
- Forgetting the correct participle form — irregular verbs are common culprits (e.g., "written," not "writed").
- Mixing tenses incorrectly when forming the passive, especially in present perfect constructions ("has been written," not "has wrote").
Practice Exercise
Convert these active sentences into passive voice:
- The chef cooks the meal. → ______________
- Workers built the bridge in 1990. → ______________
- The manager will review the proposal tomorrow. → ______________
(Answers: The meal is cooked by the chef. / The bridge was built in 1990. / The proposal will be reviewed by the manager tomorrow.)
Active and Passive Voice in Reported Speech
Voice also interacts with reported speech — when converting direct speech into indirect speech, passive constructions sometimes require extra care with tense shifts. See our reported speech examples guide for a full breakdown.
External Reference
For more on formal and academic uses of passive voice, the Purdue OWL guide to active and passive voice is a well-respected academic resource.
FAQ
Is passive voice grammatically wrong? No — it's a valid, sometimes necessary construction. The advice to "avoid passive voice" really means avoid overusing it when active voice would be clearer.
How do I know which participle form to use? Regular verbs add "-ed" (cooked, played); irregular verbs must be memorized individually (written, gone, spoken).
Does IELTS or TOEFL prefer active or passive voice? Neither is inherently preferred — examiners look for appropriate, controlled use of both, which shows grammatical range.
Practice more grammar structures in our English grammar exercises guide.