The active and passive voice
The active and passive voice are different ways of structuring the same information in a sentence.
In the active voice, the subject of the sentence comes first and performs the action (the verb). The object comes last.
The girl ate a strawberry.
The subject, ‘the girl’, comes first and performs the action ‘ate’. The object, ‘a strawberry', comes last.
In the passive voice, the subject no longer comes first.
A strawberry was eaten by the girl.
The object, 'the strawberry', comes first. The subject performing the action, 'the girl', comes last.
The active and passive voice
Find out about the active and passive voice by reading a report about an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
How to write in the active and passive voice
Depending on what you want the focus to be in a sentence, you can write the same information in either the active or passive voice.
Active voice
If you want the focus to be on the subject performing the action, use the active voice.
Tutankhamun ruled Egypt about 3,000 years ago.
In the active voice, the subject comes first then the verb, then the object.
| Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|
| Tutankhamun | ruled | Egypt |
Using the active voice is often the clearest and most direct way to write.
Passive voice
When the subject of a sentence is less important than the action, you can choose to write in the passive voice.
Egypt was ruled by Tutankhamun about 3,000 years ago.
In the passive voice, the subject no longer comes first and the focus shifts to the object having the action done to it.
| Object | Verb in the passive voice | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | was ruled | by Tutankhamun |
Sometimes, if the subject isn’t important, you can choose to leave it out.
Example 1
There have been many famous archaeological discoveries throughout history.
Is the active or passive voice being used in the sentence below?
In 1748, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was discovered.
✓ The sentence is in the passive voice.
In this sentence, there is no subject. It does not say who discovered the city.
| Object | Verb | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Pompeii | was discovered |
This is because the discovery of the city and its burial under volcanic ash are more important in this sentence than the people who discovered it.
Example 2
Another famous discovery was the Terracotta Army, unearthed in China in 1974, consisting of thousands of sculptures of the first emperor’s soldiers.
Why do you think the sentence below is written in the active voice?
Farmers discovered it near the city of Xi’an.
✓ The sentence is in the active voice.
This is to emphasise that it was farmers who discovered the army.
It’s extraordinary that the discovery was made by farmers rather than archaeologists, which is why the writer chose to put the farmers at the start of the sentence.
Task
Newspaper headlines
Write a newspaper article about the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.
Think about what you want to focus on in the article.
Experiment with writing the headline in the active or passive voice to shift the focus.
Play our fun English game Crystal Explorers! game
Use grammar, punctuation and spelling skills to explore jungles, caves and tombs on your mission.
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