Important Rules: Voice | English Language & Comprehension for SSC CGL PDF Download

Voice

In general English language, the transitive verb has two voices mainly Active voice and Passive voice.

Active Voice

• sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb.

Example – She scolded him

 Passive Voice

• a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action.

Example – He was scolded by her.

Rules For Voice - Active & Passive Voice

1. Converting Active to Passive – Identifying Subject, Verb & Object

The initial step in converting voices involves identifying the subject, verb, and object in the sentence.

• Subject + Verb + Object

Example:

• She eats an apple – (Subject – She, Verb – Eats, Object – Apple)
• I wrote a letter – (Subject – I, Verb – Wrote, Object – Letter)
• He plays a piano and drums – (Subject – He, Verb – Plays, Object – Piano and drums)

2. Converting Active to Passive – Interchanging Forms

During the transformation from active to passive, the subject and the object switch their positions. The subject becomes the object, and the object becomes the subject.

Example:

• Active voice: She sings classical (Subject – She, Verb – sings, Object – Classical)
• Passive Voice: Classical is sung by her. (Here, the subject and object interchange. Now, Subject – Classical, Verb – sung, Object – her).
• Active Voice: He visits school
• Passive Voice: School is visited by him.

3. Converting Active to Passive – Ignoring the Subject

At times, while converting from active to passive, the subject can be omitted if the sentence remains coherent without it.

Example:

• Active Voice: The police arrested her.
• Passive Voice: She was arrested. (Here, the subject 'police' is omitted as 'arrested' implies it was done by the police.)
• Active Voice: We sell milk in litres
• Passive Voice: Milk is sold in liters. (In this case, using 'we' as the subject would be redundant.)

4. Converting Active to Passive – Changing Base Verb

When changing a sentence from Active to Passive Voice, the base verb is replaced with the past participle and is preceded by prepositions like by, in, with, at, to.

Example:

(i)

• Active voice: She cooks meals.
• Passive voice: Meals are cooked by her.

(ii)

• Active voice: I know him.
• Passive voice: He is known to me.

(iii)

• Active voice: Water fills the bottle
• Passive voice: The bottle is filled with water

(iv)

• Active Voice: The box contains red balls
• Passive Voice: Red balls are contained in the box.

(v)

• Active Voice: His actions shock me.
• Passive Voice: I am shocked at his actions.

5. Converting Active to Passive – Changing Pronouns

6. Converting Active to Passive – Tense Transformation

Present Tense:

Simple Present tense:

• Active Voice: Subject + Verb + Object (Mary eats a banana)
• Passive Voice: Subject + past participle + by object (A banana is eaten by Mary)

Present Continuous Tense:

• Active Voice: Subject + is/am/are + verb(ing) + object (She is doing her task)
• Passive Voice: Subject + is/am/are + being + past participle + by object (The task is being done by her)

Past Tense:

Simple Past Tense:

• Active Voice: Subject + past verb + object (She cleaned the blackboard)
• Passive Voice: Subject + was/were + past participle + by object (The blackboard was cleaned by her)

Past Continuous:

• Active Voice: Subject + was/were + verb(ing) + object (I was reading a book)
• Passive Voice: Subject + was/were + being + past participle + by object (A book was being read by me)

Past Perfect:

• Active Voice: Subject + had + past participle + object (He had left the food)
• Passive Voice: Subject + had been + past participle + by object (The food had been left by him)

Future Tense:

Simple Future Tense:

• Active Voice: Subject + will + infinitive verb + object (I will read the newspaper)
• Passive Voice: Subject + will + be + past participle + object (The newspaper will be read by me)

Future Continuous:

• Active Voice: Subject + will be + present participle (ing) + object (Mary will be watching the news today)
• Passive Voice: Subject + will be + being + past participle + by object (The news will be being watched by Mary today)

Past Future Tense:

• Active Voice: Subject + would + infinitive + object (I would live in this house)
• Passive Voice: Subject + would be + past participle + object (This house would be lived in by me)

7. Converting Active to Passive – Imperative Sentence

• For imperative sentences, the object 'YOU' is often omitted.
• The basic formula is: Let + object + be/not be + V3 (third form of the verb).
• Sentences using words like request, expect, or order are converted to request to, expected to, or ordered to in passive voice.
• Words like please or kindly in requesting sentences are omitted from the passive voice.

Examples:

(i)

• Active Voice: Do it
• Passive Voice: Let it be done

(ii)

• Active Voice: Close the door
• Passive Voice: Let the door be closed

(iii)

• Active Voice: Do not open the letter
• Passive Voice: Let the letter not be opened