Active Vs. Passive Voice: Understanding The Differences With Examples

Active Vs. Passive Voice: Understanding The Differences With Examples

To learn active vs. passive voice, you need to first understand the meaning of these terms. The active and passive voice is commonly used while writing sentences. You will use any of these two to communicate an idea or experience. These can be very confusing, and your teachers will often ask you to use active voice while constructing sentences. Knowing the meaning of these terms will help you.

Professional writers also work hard to maintain an active voice throughout their write-up. The active voice helps to make sentences sound simple. Therefore, you will find your instructors pressing upon the usage of active voice as much as possible. The following section will help you understand what the difference between active and passive voice is.

What is the Difference between Active and Passive Voice?

The verb has a voice. It is differentiated into two types, namely active and passive voice. To understand the difference between active and passive voice, you need to learn English grammar correctly. You will not understand the voices and their impact on a sentence if you don't know the parts of speech. Looking at the relation between the verb and the object will help you in identifying the voices. Going through each separately will help you learn the differences.

Active Voice:   

1. “You must learn the lesson well to succeed in class.”
2. “The boys are playing football on the ground.”
3. “Have you written this book?”
4. “The dog was chasing the cat.”

The above examples highlight the relation between the subject and the verb in an active voice. You can also understand that the sentences are simple and easily understandable. The readers will not take time to know what you are trying to say. These will also help you learn active vs. passive voice properly.

Once you have learned the active voice, you must also know the passive voice to understand the differences. It will also help you identify the sentences with passive voice and make the necessary changes if required.

Passive Voice:

It is entirely the opposite of active voice. It can also be identified by understanding the relationship between the verb and the subject. In this case, the verb plays a significant role, and the subject is dependent on the verb's action. It is often necessary to use passive voice in sentences, but most good write-ups do not use much. Sentences with passive voice sound a bit complicated and are therefore not used much. You can understand the differences if you look to compare the active voice examples with the passive voice ones below:

1. “The lesson needs to be learned well by you to succeed in class.”
2. “Football is being played on the ground by the boys.”
3. “Is this book written by you?”
4. “The cat was chased by the dog.”     

You can understand how different it sounds when you use the passive voice.

The above points will help you explain the differences in points. It is equally essential to learn the correct usages of both active and passive voice. You will not want to misuse any of the voices. It will also help you understand active vs. passive voice more clearly.

When to Use Active vs. Passive Voice? Correct application

As mentioned earlier, active voice is always preferred over passive voice. When you write an assignment or try communicating your viewpoints through writing, it is essential to convey the same. Also, it is equally necessary for the readers to relate to what you are trying to communicate. Using the active voice makes the sentence strong and conveys the message. Even in your everyday conversation, you would prefer to keep things directly rather than making it complicated. For example, "I wrote this essay” sounds simple and easy than “The essay is written by me.”

The conflict of active vs. passive voice is never-ending. But, even if the active voice has a more substantial impact, you cannot avoid passive voice altogether. You must understand the point to focus on. If you know the definition of both these voices, you will relate to when to use active vs. passive voice. If it is essential to focus on the essay part, you need to write, "The essay is written by me." There are times when you need to focus on the verb and relate it to the subject.  

The following section will help you understand the applications even better. You can go through the examples of each and learn how these are applied and their differences.

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice: Examples

To understand active and passive voice, you need to practice a lot. It is not possible to master them if you do not make a habit of writing. Also, you need to be attentive in class when your teacher takes you through the lesson. You need to judge the significance of each while using them in a sentence. Following are few active vs. passive voice examples.

Active voice: “The dog is chasing the cat.”

Passive voice: “The cat is being chased by the dog.”

Active voice: “Did you write this essay?”

Passive voice: “Is this essay written by you?”

If you follow these active vs. passive voice examples, you will understand the difference. The relation between the verb and the subject plays a significant role. Understanding the point focus on will help you decide on the voice. Ask your teacher, contact an expert and learn these elements properly. It will help you throughout your academic career.  

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