Using the active and passive voice | English | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

Which word is the subject in this sentence? 'Aisha slammed the door loudly.'
- the door
- Aisha ✓
- loudly
- slammed
Which word in this sentence is the object? 'The stars lit up the sky at night.'
- The stars
- lit up
- the sky ✓
- at night
Tick the sentences that have an object.
- She was drawing earlier.
- She was drawing me. ✓
- She was drawing a lot.
- She was drawing a picture. ✓
How do we know this sentence is in the passive voice? 'The photo was taken by Sam.'
- It contains the preposition 'by'. ✓
- The verb is 'done to' the subject. ✓
- The subject is doing the verb.
- It includes an auxiliary verb from 'to be' along with a past tense main verb. ✓
Tick all the passive voice sentences.
- The thieves took some plants.
- Some plants were taken by the thieves. ✓
- We were surprised by the noise. ✓
- The noise surprised us.
Which is the correct passive voice version of this active sentence? 'Lightning struck the lighthouse.'
- Lightning was struck by the lighthouse.
- The lighthouse was struck by lightning. ✓
- The lighthouse was being struck by lightning.
- The lighthouse is being struck by lightning.

Identify the subject, verb and object in this active voice sentence: 'The elderly man withdrew some money from the bank.'
- subject
  
  ⇔
  
  the elderly man ✓
- verb
  
  ⇔
  
  withdrew ✓
- object
  
  ⇔
  
  some money ✓
What do we need to do to change an active sentence to a passive one?
- make the old object the subject of the new sentence ✓
- use the preposition 'by' ✓
- use an auxiliary verb based on 'to be' and a past tense main verb ✓
- remove the object
Why might we convert an active sentence to the passive?
- to emphasise who did the action
- to emphasise how the action was done
- to emphasise the action instead of who did it ✓
Which is the correct passive version of this active sentence? 'The headteacher is giving the speech.'
- The speech has been given by the headteacher.
- The speech was being given by the headteacher.
- The speech is being given by the headteacher. ✓
Which is the correct active version of this passive sentence? 'The gold has been taken by the thieves.'
- The thieves are taking the gold.
- The thieves have taken the gold. ✓
- The thieves were taking the gold.
Which of these sentences emphasises best the 'doer' of the action?
- The register was taken by Miss O'Neill.
- The register was taken.
- The register is being taken by Miss O'Neill.
- Miss O'Neill is taking the register. ✓

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There are different tenses and ways of forming verbs in English.
In the passive voice, the verb is 'done to' the subject.
The passive voice allows the speaker or writer to sound more detached from the sentence content than the active voice.
The active voice is the most frequently heard, spoken and written voice in English.
A clause in the passive voice contains two verbs: an auxiliary verb from the infinitive 'to be' and the past participle.

Pupils may struggle to maintain the correct tense when converting between active and passive.

Encourage pupils to consider the different tense options and find the one that sounds best.

Subject - the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that does or is the main verb in the active voice
Object - the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that receives the action of the main verb in the active voice
Verb - a being, a doing or a having word
Active voice - a spoken or written voice in which the subject does the verb in a sentence
Passive voice - a spoken or written voice in which the subject is acted upon by the verb