Active and Passive Voice

In one line: In the active voice, the subject (who or what the sentence is about) does the action, as in 'The cat chased the mouse'. In the passive voice, the subject has the action done to it, as in 'The mouse was chased by the cat'.

Why it works

Choosing between active and passive voice lets you decide what your reader notices first. Active sentences are usually clearer and livelier, so they suit most stories and explanations. Passive sentences are useful when the doer is unknown ('My bike was stolen'), unimportant, or less interesting than what happened. A science report might say 'The water was heated for five minutes'. Spotting the passive also helps you read news reports and instructions more carefully, because it can hide who did something.

Think of it like: Think of a sentence as a stage with a spotlight. In the active voice, the spotlight shines on the doer at the front of the stage: 'The chef cooked the meal.' In the passive voice, the spotlight swings round to the thing the action happened to, and that thing steps forward: 'The meal was cooked by the chef.' The doer moves to the back of the stage, or can even leave it completely: 'The meal was cooked.' (Where this breaks: On a real stage, anyone can step into the spotlight. In grammar, only verbs that have an object (something the action is done to) can be turned into the passive. 'She kicked the ball' can become 'The ball was kicked', but 'She slept' cannot become passive because nothing is being slept. The analogy also hides the grammar change: the verb has to change form, not just the word order.)

Worked example

Change this active sentence into the passive voice: 'The children painted the fence.'

Find the doer (the subject) and the action (the verb): the children are the doers, and 'painted' is the action.
Find the receiver (the object), which is the thing the action is done to: 'the fence'.
Move the receiver to the front so it becomes the new subject: 'The fence ...'
Use a form of 'be' in the same tense, plus the past participle (the verb form that often ends in -ed or -en, like 'painted' or 'eaten'). The original was past tense and 'fence' is singular, so we use 'was painted'.
Add 'by' and the doer at the end if you want to say who did it: 'by the children'.

Answer: The fence was painted by the children.

Common mistakes

Thinking every sentence with 'was' or 'were' is passive, such as 'She was running'; fix it by checking for a form of 'be' plus a past participle and a subject that receives the action.
Changing the tense by accident, such as turning 'The dog eats the bone' into 'The bone was eaten'; fix it by keeping the same tense, so it becomes 'The bone is eaten'.
Using the simple past instead of the past participle, such as 'The cake was ate'; fix it by using the participle form, so it becomes 'The cake was eaten'.
Believing a sentence is only passive if it includes 'by someone'; fix it by remembering that 'The window was broken' is passive even though it doesn't say who broke it.

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Which sentence is in the passive voice?

Questions parents ask

What year do children learn about active and passive voice?

In England, the passive voice is taught in Year 6, and Australian students usually meet it in upper primary or early secondary school. In the US, it is formally taught around Grade 8, although many children notice it earlier in their reading.

How can I help my child with active and passive voice at home?

Take simple sentences from everyday life, such as 'Dad washed the car', and take turns flipping them into the passive: 'The car was washed by Dad.' Then ask your child to spot passive sentences in news headlines or signs, such as 'Dogs must be kept on a lead', and to say who the hidden doer might be.

Is the passive voice bad writing?

No. The passive voice is a tool, not a mistake. Active voice is often clearer, but the passive is the better choice when the doer is unknown or unimportant, or when you want to focus on what happened, as in science reports. The aim is to choose it on purpose.

Is the passive voice the same as the past tense?

No. Voice is about who does the action, and tense is about when it happens. The passive can be used in any tense: 'The cake is eaten', 'The cake was eaten' and 'The cake will be eaten' are all passive.