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Grammatical voice describes the relationship between a verb and the participant (the subject or object) that the verb affects.
When the subject is completing the action the sentence is in the active voice (e.g. 'Tom painted the shed'). When the subject becomes the object, i.e., is having the action done to them, the voice is passive (e.g. 'the shed was painted by Tom').
Let's delve deeper into these two grammatical voices.
The active voice is when the subject of a sentence is actively doing the verb. Sentences written in the active voice are seen as direct, clear, and have a strong tone. It is the most common grammatical voice used in the English language.
The dog ate the Christmas turkey
In this example, the subject (the dog) is doing the action (the verb 'ate') to the object (the turkey). The dog is the active participant in the sentence who is carrying out the action of the verb.
Other examples include:
In these examples, the subjects (the boy, the receptionist, and the cat) are all actively performing an action. They are active in the sentence and are carrying out the action of the verb themselves.
There is a basic structure that active voice sentences follow: subject + verb + object.
The boy (subject) is feeding (verb) the ducks (object).
The receptionist (subject) will hand (verb) over the papers (object).
The cat (subject) chased (verb) the mouse (object).
The passive voice is the opposite of the active voice. A sentence is written in the passive voice when the subject is acted on by the verb/ action.
Examples include:
There is a clear structure for the passive voice. It will always contain:
A conjugated form of the verb 'to be' + a verb in the past participle form.
A preposition is sometimes included in the sentence, as in the example above (by). A preposition is not essential in the passive voice.
The ducks (subject) are being fed (present form of to be + past participle) by (preposition) the boy (object).
The papers (subject) will be handed (future form of to be + past participle) over by (preposition) the receptionist (object).
The mouse (subject) was chased (past form of to be + past participle) by (preposition) the cat (object).
Notice how the structure has been flipped. Each of these examples also contains the preposition “by” to show that the action (verb) is being done to the subject by something else.
Grammatical voice is one of the five verb properties in the English language. The five properties are the five ways that a verb may change to give further information; these consist of mood, tense, person, number, and grammatical voice.
Grammatical voice is important as it gives further information about the relationship between an action (verb) and the actor (the one performing the action). It shows whether the subject (person/thing) is doing the action themselves or whether they are having the action done to them by someone/something else.
The active voice is more common than the passive voice. It can also be used as a way of being evasive or shifting the blame.
'The man broke the vase' - active voice
'The vase was broken (by the man)' - passive voice
In this example, the active voice clearly shows that the man was active in breaking the vase and that he was responsible. In the passive voice. however, the man appears less active in breaking the vase and you can even omit adding the subject 'by the man' to avoid the blame. There is another explanation, and another reason for using the passive in this case: either we don't know who broke the vase, or it's not important.
Some passive sentences are useful to show where the focus of the sentence is. Take a look at the following sentence: "The mouse was chased by the cat." If the mouse is the focus of the story, then it is better to use the passive voice in this sentence as it shows we are meant to be focusing on the mouse rather than the cat.
The passive voice can be used in situations where a person wishes to be vague (e.g. 'the money was taken'). It can also create a sense of objectivity. This is because the passive appears less personal and takes some responsibility away from the subject.
Writers may also use the passive voice to create distance between themselves and what they are writing - this is useful if the writer wishes to focus on the action rather than the actor (subject). For example, in the sentence '20 people were given free coffee by Mary', the focus is on the people given the coffee. However, in the sentence 'Mary gave 20 people free coffee', Mary is the main focus.
When the subject is completing the action (of the verb) the sentence is in the active voice. For example, in the sentence 'Tom painted the shed', the subject (Tom) is actively doing the verb (painted) to the object (shed). The active voice often follows the structure: subject + verb+ object.
An example of the active voice is 'the dog ate the Christmas turkey'. In this example, the subject (the dog) is actively doing the verb (ate) to the object (turkey).
When the subject becomes the object, i.e., is having the action done to them, the voice is passive. For example, in the sentence 'the shed was painted by Tom', the subject (shed) is having the action (painted) done to them by the object (Tom). The subject is not actively doing action themselves.
An example of the passive voice is 'the Christmas turkey was eaten by the dog'. In this sentence, the subject (turkey) is having the action of the verb (eaten) done to them by the object (dog).
Grammatical voice gives information about the relationship between an action (verb) and the actor (the one performing the action). It is one of the five verb properties in the English language.
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