Change of voice

There are two voices:-

Active and Passive.

When the subject of the sentence is the doer or actor, the verb is in active voice; 
as

↪I do this work.

↪I give him a pen

When the subject of the sentence is acted upon, the verb is in passive voice; 
as

↪This work is done by me.

↪He was given a pen by me.

General rules of changing voice:

•    ↪The object of the verb in the active voice becomes the subject of the verb in the passive voice.
•  
•   ↪The subject of the verb in the active voice becomes the object in the passive voice generally preceded by the preposition ‘by’.
•  
•   ↪The main verb is changed into the past participle form and it is preceded by the correct form of the verb ‘to be’ in passive 
•  
•   ↪There are some verbs with two objects. In such cases either of the objects can be changed into the subject and the other is retained as an object. This object is called retained object.

Active passive relation:

Active	Rahim	reads	a book
	Subject (Sb)	Verb (Vb)	Object (obj)
Passive	A book	is read	By Rahim
	Subject  (Sb)	Verb (Vb)	Object (obj)

Verbs pattern of Passive Voice:

Tenses	Verb ‘To be’				Past Participle of the main Verb (say Play)
Simple Present	am	-	-	+	played
	is	-	-		played
	are	-	-		played
Simple Past	was	-	-		played
	were	-	-		played
Present Continuous	am	+	being		played
	is	+	being		played
	are	+	being		played
Past Continuous	was	+	being		played
	were	+	being		played
Present Perfect	has	+	been		played
	have	+	been		played
Past Perfect	had	+	been		played
Future	shall	+	be		played
	will	+	be		played

Examples with full sentences:

Tense	Voice	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect
Present	Active	I do it	I am doing it	I have done it
	Passive	It is done by me	It is being done by me	It has been done by me
Past	Active	I did it	I was doing it	I had done it
	Passive	It was done by me	It was being done by me	It had been done by me
Future	Active	I shall do it	-	-
	Passive	It will be done by me

Tense	Voice	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect
Present	Active	I play  ludo	I am playing ludo	I have played ludo
	Passive	Ludo is played by me	Ludo is being played by me	Ludo has been played by me
Past	Active	I played  ludo	I was playing ludo	I had played ludo
	Passive	Ludo was played by me	Ludo was being played by me	Ludo hah been played by me
Future	Active	I shall play ludo	-	-
	Passive	Ludo will be played by me

Important forms to remember

Subject Form	Object Form	Possessive Form
I	Me	My
We	Us	Our
You	you	Your
He	Him	His
She	Her	Her
They	Them	Their
It	It	Its
One	One	One’s

Voice Change of Assertive Sentences

i). Simple Present:

Rule:

Active: Sb+Vb+Ob

Passive: Sb(Ob of Active)+ am/is/are + past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: Karim reads a book.

Passive: A book is read by Karim.

Active: Raju sings songs.

Passive: Songs are sung by Raju.

Active: They like me.

Passive: I am liked by them.

Active: Shyam knows you

Passive: You are known to Shyam

Active: Nabin takes him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast is taken by Nabin.

Active: I see pictures.

Passive: Pictures are seen by me.

Active: Rupa writes a letter.

Passive: A letter is written by Rupa.

ii). Present Continuous:

Rule:

Active: Sb +am/is/are + past participle of the Vb + Object.

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active) + am/is/are + being + past participle of the Vb.

Active: Karim is reading a book.

Passive: A book is being read by Karim.

Active: Raju is singing songs.

Passive: Songs are being sung by Raju.

Active: They love me.

Passive: I am being loved by them.

Active: Shyam is teaching you

Passive: You are being taught by Shyam

Active: Nabin is taking him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast is being taken by Nabin.

Active: I am watching movie.

Passive: Movie is being watched by me.

Active: Rupa is writing a letter.

Passive: A letter is being written by Rupa.

iii). Present Perfect:

Rule:

Active: Sb + has/have + past participle of the Vb + Object.

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active) + has/have + been + past participle of the Vb.

Active: Karim has given me a book.

Passive: I have been given a book by Karim

Passive: A book has been given me by Karim.

Note: There are two objects in this sentence. These are Me and Book. Better to take a BOOK (non-animal word) as a subject and ME as a retained object.

Active: Raju has sung songs.

Passive: Songs have been sung by Raju.

Active: They have chosen me.

Passive: I have been chosen by them.

Active: Shyam has taught you

Passive: You have been taught by Shyam

Active: Nabin has taken  him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast has been taken by Nabin.

Active: I have seen Titanic.

Passive: Titanic has been seen by me.

Active: Rupa has written a letter.

Passive: A letter has been written by Rupa.

iv). Simple past:

Rule:

Active: Sb + past tense of Vb + Ob

Passive:   Sb (Ob of Active) + was/were + past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: Karim read a book.

Passive: A book was read by Karim.

Active: Raju sang songs.

Passive: Songs were sung by Raju.

Active: They liked me.

Passive: I was liked by them.

Active: Shyam knew you

Passive: You were known to Shyam

Active: Nabin took him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast was taken by Nabin.

Active: I saw pictures.

Passive: Pictures were seen by me.

Active: Rupa wrote a letter.

Passive: A letter was written by Rupa.

v). Past Continuous:

Rule:

Active: Sb + was/were + past participle of the Vb

Passive:   Sb (Ob of Active) + was/were + being +  past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: Karim was reading a book.

Passive: A book was being read by Karim.

Active: Raju was singing songs.

Passive: Songs were being sung by Raju.

Active: They loved me.

Passive: I was being loved by them.

Active: Shyam was teaching you.

Passive: You were being taught by Shyam.

Active: Nabin was taking him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast was being taken by Nabin.

Active: I was watching movie.

Passive: Movie was being watched by me.

Active: Rupa was writing a letter.

Passive: A letter was being written by Rupa.

vi). Past Perfect:

Rule:

Active: Sb + had + past participle of the Vb.

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active) + had + been + past participle of the Vb.

Active: Karim had given me a book.

Passive: I had been given a book by Karim

Passive: A book had been given me by Karim.

Note: There are two objects in this sentence. These are Me and Book. Better to take a BOOK (non-animal word) as a subject and ME as a retained object.

Active: Raju had sung songs.

Passive: Songs had been sung by Raju.

Active: They had chosen me.

Passive: I had been chosen by them.

Active: Shyam had taught you

Passive: You had been taught by Shyam

Active: Nabin had taken him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast had been taken by Nabin.

Active: I had seen Titanic.

Passive: Titanic had been seen by me.

Active: Rupa had written a letter.

Passive: A letter had been written by Rupa.

vii). Simple Future:

Rule:

Active: Sb + shall/will+ Vb + Ob

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active) + shall/will + be+ past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: Karim will read a book.

Passive: A book will be read by Karim.

Active: Raju will sing songs.

Passive: Songs will be sung by Raju.

Active: They will like me.

Passive: I shall be liked by them.

Active: Shyam will call you

Passive: You will be called by Shyam

Active: Nabin will take him breakfast.

Passive: Breakfast will be taken by Nabin.

Active: I will see pictures.

Passive: Pictures will be seen by me.

Active: Rupa will write a letter.

Passive: A letter will be written by Rupa.

viii). Future Conditional:

Rule:

Active: Sb+ would + Present tense of the Vb + Ob

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active)+ would + be + past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: She would sing a song.

Passive:  A song would be sung by her.

Active: Ram would open a shop.

Passive: A shop would be opened by Ram.

ix). Perfect Conditional:

Rule:

Active: Sb+ would + have + Present tense of the Vb + Ob

Passive:   Sb(Ob of Active)+ would + have+ been + past participle of the Vb

Examples:

Active: She would have read the story book.

Passive:  The story book would have been read by her.

Active: He would have received the message.

Passive: The message would have been received by me.

Active: Azar would have sent the telegram.

Passive: The telegram would have been sent by Azar.

B. Imperative sentences:

If the Active Verb is in the Imperative Mood, the word ‘Let’ is usually placed at the beginning of the Passive voice. But if the sentence begins with ‘Please’ in Active Voice, ‘you are requested to’ is used in Passive voice. The ‘b’ verb is placed before the past Participle of the main Verb in both the cases. An Intransitive Verb may also be changed into Passive with ‘you are requested to’ and also in case of Advice ‘Shall be’ is used.

Three types of Imperative sentences:

• ↪   Command or Order
• ↪     Request
• ↪    Advice.

1. ↪   Command or Order:

Rule:

Active: Vb + Ob

Passive:   Let + Ob + be + past participle of the Vb

Active: Do this work.

Passive:  Let this work be done.

Active: Close the door.

Passive:  Let the door be closed.

Active: Open the door.

Passive:  Let the door be opened.

1. ↪   Request:

Rule:

Active: Please + Vb + Ob

Passive:   You are requested to + Verb + Ob

Active: Please do this work.

Passive: You are requested to do this work.

Active: Please give me a ticket.

Passive:  You are requested to give me a ticket

Active: Please do not smoke.

Passive:  You are requested not to smoke.

Active: Go there.

Passive:  You are requested to go there.

Active: Do it.

Passive:  You are requested to do it.

1. ↪    Advice:

Rule:

Active: Vb + Ob

Passive:  Sb(Ob of Active)+ should be or ‘be word’ + past participle of the Vb

Active: Help the poor.

Passive: The poor should be helped.

Active: Love the Animals.

Passive:  The animals should be loved.

Active: Listen to your teacher.

Passive:  Your teacher should be listened to.

Active: Prepare yourself ready for the worst.

Passive:  Be prepared for the worst.

Passive:  You should be prepared for the worst.

Active: Do it.

Passive:  You are requested to do it.

C. Interrogative Sentences:

An Interrogative Sentence in Active Voice will also be Interrogative in its Passive form. The process of changing is convenient if it is first changed into Assertive and then into Interrogative. But if the Interrogative Sentence begins with a question word, it can be directly changed into Passive.

Active: Do you see the bird?

Assertive: You see the bird-àThe bird is seen by you

Passive:  Is the bird seen by you?

Active: Do you clean the room?

Assertive: You clean the room-àThe room is cleared by you

Passive:  Is the room cleaned by you?

Active: Have you read the book?

Assertive: You have read the bookàThe book has been read by you.

Passive:  Has the book been read by you?

Active: Did you see the lion?

Assertive: You saw the lionàThe lion was seen by you.

Passive:  Was the lion seen by you?

WH- questions:

Active: Who wrote it?

Passive:  By whom was it written?

Active: Whom did you call?

Passive:  Who was called by you?

Active: What do you want?

Passive:  What is wanted by you?

Active: Which one do you like?

Passive:  Which one is liked by you?

Active: Why did the teacher punish you?

Passive:  Why were you punished by the teacher?

D. Passive Voice of Complex Sentences.

 In changing the voice of complex Sentences the Voices of both the Principal and Subordinate Clauses should be changed. The Introductory ‘It’ may also be sometimes used in such cases.

Active: We know that Columbus discovered America.

Passive:  That America was discovered by Columbus is known to us.

Or It is known to us that America was discovered by Columbus.

Active: I know that he did the work.

Passive:  It is known to me the work was done by him.

Active: He told me that he would buy the book.

Passive:  I was told by him that the book would be bought by him.

Active: They proposed to hold a meeting.

Passive: It was proposed to hold a meeting.

Or It was proposed that a meeting should be held.

Some Exceptions: