The Active and Passive Voice

Universidad Americana 

The Active and Passive Voice

Sharon Herrera

María José Páez

The Active Voice

--> The active is a sentence with an action verb, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb.

The Passive Voice

--> The passive is when the subject performs the action.

Simple present active 

The sentence is presented in regular way.

*They sell ice cream here.

Simple present passive 

The verb BE (is, are, am) is included and the main verb is in past participle

*Ice cream is sold here.

Present continuous active 

We use the verb BE in present + ing

*Someone is washing my car at the moment.

Present continuous passive

We use the verb BE in present + being + the verb in participle

*My car is being washed at the moment.

Past simple active 

We use the verb in simple past

* They sold a car yesterday.

Past simple passive

We use the auxiliar was or were and the verb in past participle

* A car was sold yesterday.

Past continuous active

We use was or were + the verb ing

*He was painting my bedroom then.

Past continuous passive

We use was or were being + the verb in past participle

*My bedroom was being painted then.

Past perfect active

We use the auxiliary had + the verb in past participle

*Somebody had left and envelope on the table.

Past perfect passive

We use the auxiliary had + been and the verb in past participle

* An envelope had been left on the table.

Future simple active 

We use will + the regular verb

* They will send an e-mail.

Future simple passive

We use will + be + the verb in past participle

*An e-mail will be sent.

Future going to active

We use going to + the regular form of the verb

* Somebody is going to call Peter.

Future going to passive

We use going to + be + verb in past participle

*Peter is going to be called.

 Modals active

We use the modal and the verb in a regular way

*Somebody can save the puppy.

Modals passive

We use the modal + be + verb in past participle

*The puppy can be saved.

Explanation Passive and Active VoicePassive and Active 
Passive and Active Voice