CA Foundation Exam June 2023 » CA Foundation Study Material » Business Correspondence » Learn How To Change Active Voice to Passive Voice

Learn How To Change Active Voice to Passive Voice

The language is an essential medium for official conversation and making connections in any professional platform. The organization hires professionals with good communication skills and accurate grammatical knowledge. The medium of the information and conversation of professional grounds is through newsletters, reports, emails and other similar documents. Active and passive voice are the significant components of grammar used effectively in preparing documents. Active voice is extensively used on many professional grounds, but there are specific rules to change active to passive voice with many grammatical transformations.  

Change active voice to passive voice:

Switching the voice from active to passive consists of many situational and grammatical variations. The change of active voice into passive voice exercises includes the variation in emphasis of the subject in the sentence. In comparison, changing the active voice into passive includes changing the formation of the verb without changing the sentence’s meaning. 

The direct object in active voice is converted into a subject which changes a sentence from active to passive voice. The tense is also a crucial factor in the sentence while changing the active voice to passive voice. 

Below are some of the rules which are needed to be considered while changing the active voice into passive voice:

  • Rule 1: Identify the tense

This is the prime rule to change active to passive voice sentences. The tense of the sentence should remain unchanged but the conjugation of the verb will be different.

Example: He is walking. (Active voice)

He has been walking. (Passive voice)

  • Rule 2: Change the subject and object:

The object of active voice becomes the subject of passive voice. Here the subject is acted upon and the verb is indirect. 

Example: She (subject) will write the article (object). (Active voice)

The article (subject) will be written by her (object). (Passive voice)

  • Rule 3: Use of auxiliary verb:

Using the auxiliary verb is important in the passive voice. The verb ‘to be’ is most commonly used in the passive voice. This verb in the passive voice follows the tense used in the active voice upon conversion.

Example: She will write an article. (Active voice)

An article will be written by her. (Passive voice)

  • Rule 4: Adding the suitable ‘by’ preposition:

The subject should conclude the sentence when there is a change from active to passive voice. The preposition ‘by’ will be added between the verb and the object in this situation. In specific situations where the subject is absent, using ‘by’ is avoided.

Example: The dog kills the cat. (Active voice)

The cat will be killed by the dog. (Passive voice)

Use of passive voice:

Using active voice in any group of sentences delivers a firm and clear message. Here is the list where to use the passive voice. Below are the mentions:

  • Not emphasising the subject: In passive voice, the subject is not emphasized
  • Placing the objects in the descriptive importance: Here, the subject is acted upon
  • Writing the research, scientific or technical document: The passive voice is extensively used in the research paper, scientific explanations and technical informatory sentences
  • Use in the business platforms: Passive voice is used in writing official documents like notices

Conclusions: 

There are two grammatical voices in English. Active voice is used to convey a message directly, while passive voice is used when the verb is indirect. While active voice is easy to use, passive voice is needed in case of conveying information where the subject is not necessary or perhaps is arbitrary. One should be thorough with the rules of passive voice to be able to successfully write sentences in active and passive voice.