Practice Active passive voice Questions and Answers

 Active Passive Voice Question & Answer

The topic of Active Passive voice forms an important part of the English syllabus of many government exams like SEBI Grade A, SBI PO, RBI Grade B, IBPS SO, IBPS PO among many others. It is a very scoring topic provided your basics are clear. Preparing this topic well will help you in solving questions on error spotting, sentence correction and reading comprehension as well. Around 3 to 5 questions can be expected in the exam from active and passive voice.

What is meant by Voice?

Before going into the details of what active and passive voice means, it is important to understand what is meant by “voice”.

In English, “voice” refers to the relationship of the subject to the action. In simple words, it indicates when a subject acts or when the subject is the receiver of the action.

Types of Voice 

There are two types of voices in English-

Active Voice 

• When the subject performs the action, it is called active voice. In other words, the subject performs the action.
• Active voice denotes a direct relationship between the subject and the verb.
• Active voice is also known as the ‘normal voice’ which is the voice we use most of the time.

Let’s look at active voice example-

I will clean the house every Wednesday.

In the above sentence, the subject is “I”, the verb is “clean” and the object is “house”.

Passive Voice

• On the other hand, in passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb.
• Here, the verb is passive when the subject of the verb is acted upon.
• Another distinctive feature is that the focus is on the ‘action’ rather than the ‘subject’, who performs the action.
• It is important to note that the object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb.
• Passive voice is not commonly used as it makes the sentence structure complex and therefore, becomes a burden to read.

Let’s understand with the help of passive voice example-

The house will be cleaned by me every Wednesday.

In the above passive voice example, the subject is “house”, the verb is “cleaned” and the object is “me”.

Sentence structure - Active & Passive Voice Rules

In order to solve the questions on active and passive voice effortlessly, it is important to understand how the sentence structure changes with respect to active/passive voice.

The active and passive voice rules focuses on the subject, i.e subject is the performer of an action.

The sentence structure rules are as follows-

Subject + Verb + Object

The sentence structure in passive voice shows an action that is performed on the subject of the sentence.

The sentence structure is as follows-

Object + Verb + Subject

Note-

• When a sentence is changed from active to passive voice, the form of the verb also changes.
• Now, two types of verbs will be used, i.e. the main verb and auxiliary verb (used in conjunction with the main verb).
• The important thing to remember is that the exact meaning of the sentence must not change even if the structure changes.

Rules for Active-Passive Voice Conversions

Rule 1- Identify the Subject, Verb and Object which has to be converted into passive voice.

For example- 

Ravi drives a car.

In the above example, Subject- Ravi, Verb- drives, Object- Car

Rule 2- Interchange the Subject and Object with each other

In passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

For example-

Active- The boy laughs at the beggar (Subject + Verb + Object)

Passive- The beggar was being laughed at by the boy. (Object + Verb + Subject)

In the above example the Object (beggar) of the active sentence became the Subject (beggar) of the passive sentence.

Rule 3- Sometimes the Subject can be completely omitted from the passive voice if the meaning conveyed is clear.

For example-

Active- Distance is measured in kilometers

Passive- Kilometers is a measurement unit for distance.

In the above sentence there is no subject and yet the sentence conveys a clear meaning.

Rule 4- While converting from active to passive voice, change the tense of the main verb to the past participle (third form).

For example-

Active- Roma prepares dinner

Passive- Dinner is prepared by Roma

In the above sentence the main verb (prepare) has been changed to prepared, which is its third form.

Rule 5-  When converting from active to passive voice, change the tense of the auxiliary verb.

When the verb form of the main verb changes, the tense of the auxiliary verb also changes.

For example-

Active- Seema walked my dog home.

Passive- My dog was walked home by Seema.

Forms of Active & Passive Voice for all Tenses

Sample Questions on Active & Passive Voice

[Directions] In the following questions, a sentence has been given in either Active or Passive Voice. From the four options select the one which best expresses the same sentence in the opposite voice than the one mentioned in the question.

Q1) Never disobey your elders

1. You are asked not to disobey your elders.
2. You are ordered not to disobey your elders.
3. Do not disobey your elders.
4. You are not to disobey your elders.

Answer (1) You are asked not to disobey your elders

Q2) I have to do it.

1. It is be done by me.
2. It should to be done by me.
3. It has to be done by me.
4. It would to be done by me.

Answer (3) It has to be done by me.

Q3) The students were listening to the teacher.

1. The teacher is listened to by the students.
2. The teacher listened to students.
3. The teacher was listening to by the students
4. The teacher was listened to by the students.

Answer (4) The teacher was listened to by the students.

Q4) Who stole your bike?

1. Your bike was stolen by him?
2. By whom was your bike stolen?
3. Your bike was stolen by whom?
4. By whom your bike stolen?

Answer (2) By whom was your bike stolen?

Q5) Tell the maid to prepare tea.

1. You are ordered to tell the maid to prepare tea.
2. You are said to tell the maid to prepare tea.
3. You are advised to tell the maid to prepare tea.
4. You are asked to tell the maid to prepare tea.

Answer (4) You are asked to tell the maid to prepare tea.

Conclusion

In order to solve questions on active and passive voice easily in the competitive exams, it is essential to understand the sentence structure and rules of conversion. This will improve accuracy and the room for error will also be minimized. Having a sound knowledge of active and passive rules will also help candidates in the descriptive sections of government exams as well. In other words, mastery on this topic can be achieved by practicing sample questions.