Explain the active and passive voice of the English Language.
Active and passive are words used to describe a grammatical voice in English. They dictate the syntactic structure of a sentence, that is, the positional relationship amongst nouns, verbs and other grammatical entities in a sentence.
Traditionally, English sentence structure is thus: Subject + Verb + Object (SVO)
For example:
Hassan kicked a ball. (Hassan=Subject; kicked=Verb; a ball=Object)
When we say subject, we mean the doer of the action if there is an action in the sentence, or that person or thing that the sentence is all about, that is, in the case of a non-action sentence.
Mary is writing. (Mary=subject-doer of action of writing)
Habiba is a student. (Habiba=subject, which the sentence is all about since there is no action)
Therefore, whenever a subject comes before a verb (S + V), we grammatically call that an active voice /sentence.
A majority of English sentences are written in the active voice. And, we’re always advised to use active voice because it makes our expressions simple and clear devoid of any vagueness.
So, what is a passive voice and why and when do we use it?
A passive voice is a reverse of an active structure, that is, instead of S + V + O, we write O + V + S.
For example:
- A ball was kicked by Hassan. (A ball=Object; kicked=Verb; Hassan=Subject)
- A book was given to me. (A book=Object; given=Verb; unfortunately, in this this sentence there is no visible Subject) I’m sure you’re curious what happens!
The answer: It’s not always imperative to use the subject in a passive construction because it’s still meaningful with or without it. Just make sure the meaning it clear when you decide not to use it.
Passive voice is used in different contexts for different reasons.
A politician may easily say, ‘Affordable houses will be provided in 2025.’ It’s apparent, you don’t know who is going to provide the houses (the subject is omitted). He does that perhaps to avoid being held responsible when the houses are for any reasons not provided.
We also use passive a lot in scientific reports, specifically in reporting experiments.
For example:
- 5ml of hydrogen peroxide was added to the chemical and was allowed to burn for 1 hour.
- The organ was refrigerated for 5 hours.
In summary, we can say active and passive voices are grammatical structures that are used based on choices, contexts and linguistic styles of the user.
I hope this helps.
The active voice emphasizes who or what is performing the action. (In the passive voice, the person or thing performing the action often does not even appear in the sentence.)
Passive
Mistakes were made by me.
Active
I made mistakes.
Often, the writer drops the by clause entirely in a passive sentence.
Subjects that act require powerful verbs that stimulate the imagination and senses.
Passive
The Jeep was driven down the street.
Active
The Jeep careened down the street.
Passive
The horse was ridden down the lane.
Active
The horse bolted down the lane.
Nice one.
It helps greatly. Thank you very much.