1. Active versus Passive Voice

2. Are the following sentences in the active or the passive voice? The Economist is read by many students and professionals. I enjoy reading The Economist.

3. Q: What is the difference between the active and the passive voice?

4. A: In a sentence using the active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action. In a sentence using the passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action.

5. Active: Active sentences focus on the person doing the action. (action done by the subject) Passive: The recipient of the action is focused on in a passive sentence. (action not done by the subject)

6. Example: Active:The explorers conquered the tallest mountain. Passive:The tallest mountain was conquered by the explorers.

7. Q: So what’s the problem?

8. How do we form the passive? To be + past participle ( the verb to be is in the same tense as the “active” sentence) Many people watch the documentary. (present simple) The documentary is watched by many people. (present simple)

9. They sent the article to TIME magazine yesterday. (past simple) The article was sent to TIME magazine (by them) yesterday. (past simple)

10. The documentary is watched by many people. The article was sent to TIME magazine. -object of the “active” sentence becomes subject in the “passive” sentence -subject of the “active” sentence becomes “agent” in the “passive” sentence ( or is left out)

11. Self Test: Rewrite the sentences in the passive:

12. People write many articles for websites nowadays. Photographers take lots of pictures of celebrities. Hollywood studios made many films last year.