What is the difference between an active and passive verb

It is also helpful for instances when the doer of an action also known as the agent is unknown. Active voice: The kids have cleaned the kitchen.

Passive voice: The kitchen has been cleaned. Active voice: We found an old car in the woods. Passive voice: An old car was found in the woods. There is also the mediopassive voice, which is a whole other animal that we discuss in this article. The differences between active and passive voice come up as a subject for discussion in criticism of news coverage.

The passive voice allows for a shorter headline, but more pertinently, it puts up front information that is known. In many cases, especially in stories involving crime, the fact of the crime being committed, and whom it was committed against, is known before who committed it becomes clear.

The reason for the passive is therefore practical: one might not know who carried out the attack, only that someone did, and that the attacker might still be at large. Even once an attacker has been identified, news writers might avoid the active voice for fear of stating what that person is accused of as fact.

When the verb is active, the subject of the verb is doing the action, as in these examples:. In the first example, you can see that the subject of the active verb France does not appear in the corresponding passive version of the sentence.

The person or thing in a passive sentence that does or causes something is called the agent : more than million people and Jack are the agents of the second and third passive examples.

These two different ways of using verbs are known as voices. On the other hand, passive voice is mainly used in legal writing and for stylistic writing. I want to say that, this is something that I want…because everybody tells the climax not the basis. This was a great explanation. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Key Differences Active and Passive Voice The points given below are substantial so far as the difference between active and passive voice is concerned: When in a sentence, it is the subject which performs or completes the action, it is called as active voice. On the contrary, when in a sentence, the action is received by the subject, then it is called as a passive voice.

In an active voice, it is the subject which acts upon the verb, whereas in the passive voice, the subject is being acted upon by the verb. In an active voice, as the actor is the subject himself, who is responsible for the concerned action, it appears at the first place. Comments Thank you so much for the clearest examples of active and passive voice. Your explanation is very simple to clear and very very useful to me, Thanks lot of. Write with confidence. Grammarly will make sure your writing is clear and mistake-free.

Get Grammarly. Sentences in the active voice have a strong, direct, and clear tone. Here are some short and straightforward examples of active voice. All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb, and object. The subject monkey performs the action described by adore.

The subject the cashier performs the action described by counted. The subject the dog performs the action described by chased. The subjects are doing, doing, doing—they take action in their sentences. A sentence is in the passive voice , on the other hand, when the subject is acted on by the verb. Doing this usually generates a preposition as well.