- Active To Passive Voice Converter Online
- Active Voice To Passive Voice Converter Online
- Is There Any Active Voice To Passive Voice Online Converter
- Active Passive Voice Change Online
A sentence is in the active voice when the subject of a sentence performs the action. Unlike the passive voice, sentences in the active voice have a sharp, direct, and clear tone. Example: Steve picked up the hammer. The sentence above has a basic active voice construction, and that's subject, followed by the verb, then the object. To turn passive into active voice is simple with our highly effective tool. Whether you are looking for an active to passive converter or vice versa, using our tool is as simple as this: Paste the test that requires checking into the tool in the space that is provided. Click the check button to start the process of reviewing your writing. Top Features and Capabilities of Our Passive Voice Converter. Our online active voice translator and sentence fixer tool is highly featured with advanced capabilities to check and correct active voice and passive voice related mistakes easily. It is fully capable of converting all passive voice sentences into active voice and active voice sentences into passive voice simultaneously. Passive and Active Voice In the passive voice the subject is acted upon. The passive voice is useful when the writer needs to be sensitive (say something delicately) or needs to focus on the subject being acted upon. However, the passive voice should be used sparingly, especially in academic writing. This voice can be long-winded and slow.
Estimated Time: 15 minutesThe vast majority of sentences in technical writing should bein active voice. This unit teaches you how to do the following:
- Distinguish passive voice from active voice.
- Convert passive voice to active voice because active voiceis usually clearer.
First, watch this video, just to get the ballrolling1:
Distinguish active voice from passive voice in simple sentences
In an active voice sentence, an actor acts on a target. That is,an active voice sentence follows this formula:
Active Voice Sentence = actor + verb + target
A passive voice sentence reverses the formula. That is, a passivevoice sentence typically follows the following formula:
Passive Voice Sentence = target + verb + actor
Active voice example
For example, here’s a short, active voice sentence:
The cat sat on the mat.
- actor: The cat
- verb: sat
- target: the mat
Passive voice examples
By contrast, here's that same sentence in passive voice:
The mat was sat on by the cat.
- target: The mat
- passive verb: was sat
- actor: the cat
Some passive voice sentences omit an actor. For example:
The mat was sat on.
- actor: unknown
- passive verb: was sat
- target: the mat
Who or what sat on the mat? A cat? A dog? A T-Rex? Readers can only guess.Good sentences in technical documentation identify who is doing what to whom.
Recognize passive verbs
Passive verbs typically have the following formula:
Although the preceding formula looks daunting, it is actually pretty simple:
- A form of be in a passive verb is typically one of the following words:
- is/are
- was/were
- A past participle verb is typically a plain verb plus the suffix ed. For example, the following are past participle verbs:
- interpreted
- generated
- formed
Unfortunately, some past participle verbs are irregular; that is, the pastparticiple form does not end with the suffix ed. For example:
- sat
- known
- frozen
Putting the form of be and the past participle together yields passiveverbs, such as the following:
- was interpreted
- is generated
- was formed
- is frozen
If the phrase contains an actor, a preposition ordinarily follows thepassive verb. (That preposition is often a key clue to help you spotpassive voice.) The following examples combine the passive verb andthe preposition:
- was interpreted as
- is generated by
- was formed by
- is frozen by
Imperative verbs are typically active
It is easy to mistakenly classify sentences starting with an imperativeverb as passive. An imperative verb is a command. Many items innumbered lists start with imperative verbs. For example, Open andSet in the following list are both imperative verbs:
- Open the configuration file.
- Set the
Frombus
variable toFalse
.
Active To Passive Voice Converter Online
Sentences that start with an imperative verb are typically in active voice,even though they do not explicitly mention an actor. Instead, sentencesthat start with an imperative verb imply an actor. The implied actoris you.
Exercise
Mark each of the following sentences as either Passive or Active:
MutableInput
provides read-only access.- Read-only access is provided by
MutableInput
. - Performance was measured.
- Python was invented by Guido van Rossum in the twentieth century.
- David Korn discovered the KornShell quite by accident.
- This information is used by the policy enforcement team.
- Click the Submit button.
- The orbit was calculated by Katherine Johnson.
Click the icon to see the answer.
- Active. MutableInput provides read-only access.
- Passive. Read-only access is provided by MutableInput.
- Passive. Performance was measured.
- Passive. Python was invented by Guido van Rossum in the twentieth century.
- Active. David Korn discovered the KornShell quite by accident.
- Passive. This information is used by the policy enforcement team.
- Active. Click the Submit button. (Click is an imperative verb.)
- Passive. The orbit was calculated by Katherine Johnson.
Distinguish active voice from passive voice in more complex sentences
Many sentences contain multiple verbs, some of which are active andsome of which are passive. For example, the following sentencecontains two verbs, both of which are in passive voice:
Here is that same sentence, partially converted to active voice:
And here is that same sentence, now fully converted to active voice:
Exercise
Each of the following sentences contains two verbs.Categorize each of the verbs in the following sentences as eitheractive or passive. For example, if the first verb is active andthe second is passive, write Active, Passive.
- The QA team loves ice cream, but the writers prefer sorbet.
- Performance metrics are required by the team, though I prefer wild guesses.
- When software engineers attempt something new and innovative, a rewardshould be given.
Click the icon to see the answer.
- Active, Active. The QA team loves ice cream, but the writers prefer sorbet.
- Passive, Active. Performance metrics are required by the team, though I prefer wild guesses.
- Active, Passive. When software engineers attempt something new and innovative, a reward should be given.
Prefer active voice to passive voice
Use the active voice most of the time. Use the passive voice sparingly.Active voice provides the following advantages:
- Most readers mentally convert passive voice to active voice.Why subject your readers to extra processing time? By sticking toactive voice, readers can skip the preprocessor stage and go straightto compilation.
- Passive voice obfuscates your ideas, turning sentences on their head.Passive voice reports action indirectly.
- Some passive voice sentences omit an actor altogether, which forcesthe reader to guess the actor's identity.
- Active voice is generally shorter than passive voice.
Be bold—be active.
Scientific research reports (optional material)
Passive voice runs rampant through certain scientific research reports.In those research reports, experimenters and their equipment oftendisappear, leading to passive sentences that start off as follows:
- It has been suggested that...
- Data was taken...
- Statistics were calculated...
- Results were evaluated.
Do we know who is doing what to whom? No. Does the passive voicesomehow make the information more objective? No.
Many scientific journals have embraced active voice. We encouragethe remainder to join the quest for clarity.
Exercise
Rewrite the following passive voice sentences as active voice. Only part ofcertain sentences are in passive voice; ensure that all parts end up as activevoice:
- The flags were not parsed by the Mungifier.
- A wrapper is generated by the Op registration process.
- Only one experiment per layer is selected by the Frombus system.
- Quality metrics are identified by asterisks; ampersands identify badmetrics.
Click the icon to see the answer.
Active Voice To Passive Voice Converter Online
- The Mungifier did not parse the flags.
- The Op registration process generates a wrapper.
- The Frombus system selects only one experiment per layer.
- Asterisks identify quality metrics; ampersands identify bad metrics.
Next unit:Clear sentences
1. 'Getting the ball rolling' is an idiom thatmeans 'to get something started.' ↩
“A Grammar of Contemporary English” defines Voice as “voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways, without change in the facts reported”. One and the same idea can often be expressed in two different ways, by means of an active, and by means of a passive construction.
1. Active Voice
Active voice is used to indicate the grammatical subject of the verb is performing the action or causing the happening denoted by the verb. With the active voice, you learn ‘who’ or ‘what’ is responsible for the action at the beginning of the sentence. In other words, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb. With help of active voice more powerful sentences can be build than passive voice.
Use of active voice:
1. Active voice is used in a clause whose subject expresses the agent of the main verb.
2. Subject can be easily identified by asking ‘who’ or ‘what’ to the verb.
3. Sentences are short and easily understandable.
Example :
John wrote the letter.
-John (subject) performs the action denoted by the verb (write).
2. Passive Voice
In Passive voice the sentence focus on object i.e. who/what is receiving the action and not on who/what is performing the action. In passive voice, the actor of the of the verb (action) is either understood at the end of the sentence or maybe not told. The passive voice is used in writing facts, truth, lab or technical reports in which the actor is not important or unknown, but the action happening on the object is very important.
Use of passive voice:
1. It is used if it doesn‘t need to know or we don‘t know the actor performing the job.
2. In the end of the clause or sentence “by” is prefixed to know the actor performing the job.
3. It is used if we are more interested in the job than the actors who work.
Example :
The letter was written by John.
- letter receives the action denoted by the write (verb).
Is There Any Active Voice To Passive Voice Online Converter
How to identify the active / passive voice?
Ask who/what performed the action(verb)? -- if the ‘who or what is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence is active voice.
Example :
Jack is eating the apple.
Question will be :Who is eating the apple?
Look for the word “by”, if present it is passive voice.
Active/Passive voice using Modals:
The modal verbs consist of will, would, can, could, shall, should, may, might, must which are
used with main verbs to express ability, probability, obligation, advice etc.
To convert active voice having modal into passive voice, auxiliary verb “be” is added after modal in sentence.
Rules for Active to Passive conversion | |||||||||||
Tense | Active voice | Passive voice | |||||||||
Simple Present Tense | Subject + infinitive + object E.g. The grocer sells fresh vegetables. | S + to be + past participle + by object E.g. Fresh vegetables are sold by the grocer. | |||||||||
Present Continuous Tense | Subject + to be (is, am, are) being + present participle + object E.g. My boss is giving many assignments. | Subject + has/have + past participle + object E.g.I have taken him out. | Subject + past participle + object E.g. He built a large house. | S + was/were + past participle + by object E.g. A large house was built by him. | |||||||
Past Continuous Tense | S + was/were + being + past participle + object E.gShe was cooking dinner. | Subject + will + infinitive + object E.g. I will give you a present. | S + will + be + past participle + by object E.g. A present will be given to you by me. | ||||||||
Future Perfect Tense |
Active Passive Voice Change Online
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