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In other words, in the active voice, the subject of the sentence acts as the doer of
the action. For example, in the sentence “The teacher explains the lesson,” the
subject ‘teacher’ is performing the action of explaining. On the other hand, in
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the passive voice, the object of the sentence becomes the focus, and the subject
who performs the action may or may not be mentioned. For example, “The
lesson is explained by the teacher.” In this case, the lesson (the object in active
voice) becomes the subject, and the action is done to it.

Consider the following rules describing the two forms of sentences in English.
1. Active Voice: The sentence follows the structure: Subject + Verb + object.
Example: The cat (subject) chased (verb) the mouse (object).

2. Passive Voice: The sentence follows the structure: Subject + Form of ‘to be’
+ Past Participle of Verb + (by + Agent).
Example: The mouse (subject) was chased (past participle of verb) by the

cat (agent).
The agent (the cat) can sometimes be omitted if it is not important or not
known: The mouse was chased.

3. Verb Agreement: The form of ‘to be’ changes, depending on the tense of the

verb in the active voice. The form of the verb ‘to be’ will reflect the tense used
in the active voice (e.g., present and past).

Example in Present Simple: The book is read by students.
Example in Past Simple: The book was read by students.

4. Use of Passive Voice: Passive voice is often used when the focus is on the

recipient of the action rather than the performer of the action. It is commonly
used in formal writing, scientific contexts, or when the performer of the action
(agent) is unknown or irrelevant.

Example: The new laws were passed last week. The focus is on the laws, and

not who passed them.

English for Secondary Schools Student’s Book Form Three
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