Active vs Passive Voice Explained: Examples and Practice Questions for Clarity in Writing

Active and Passive — See the Difference

Look at these sentences. The key words are in blue:

Active voice (the person does the action):

• The teacher explains the lesson. (the teacher does the explaining)
• My sister painted a picture. (my sister did the painting)
• The dog ate the bone. (the dog did the eating)

Passive voice (the thing receives the action):

• The lesson is explained by the teacher. (the lesson receives the action)
• A picture was painted by my sister. (the picture receives the action)
• The bone was eaten by the dog. (the bone receives the action)

Did you see the pattern? In active voice, the doer comes first. In passive voice, the receiver comes first, and we add a helping word like is, was, or were.

When to Use Active Voice and When to Use Passive Voice

Here is the simple rule:

Use active voice most of the time. It is clear and easy to read. Put the person or thing doing the action first:

• Person/Thing + Action + What they did it to
• The boy kicked the ball.
• My mum cooks dinner every evening.

Use passive voice when you care more about what happened than who did it. To make passive, use a helping word (is, was, were, will be) + the past form of the verb:

• Thing + was/is/were + done (+ by person)
• The ball was kicked by the boy.

Use passive when:

• You do not know who did it: “My bike was stolen.”
• It does not matter who did it: “The school was built in 1990.”
• You want to be polite: “A mistake was made.” (instead of “You made a mistake.”)

Easy way to remember: If you can add “by someone” at the end and it still makes sense, the sentence is passive.

Real-Life Examples With Active and Passive Voice

Here are sentences you might hear or use every day:

• My friend sent me a message this morning. (active — my friend did the sending)
• The window was broken during the storm. (passive — we do not know who broke it)
• The children are taught English every day. (passive — the focus is on the children, not the teacher)
• She reads a book before bed every night. (active — she does the reading)
• This song was written by a famous singer. (passive — the focus is on the song)

You are doing great. Now let’s look at the mistakes many learners make.

Three Mistakes to Avoid With Active and Passive Voice

Even advanced learners mix up active and passive voice sometimes — so if you find it confusing, you are not alone. Even native speakers’ children get this wrong when they are learning to talk.

How to remember: Passive voice always needs a helping word (is, was, were, will be) + the past form of the verb (written, baked, eaten — not wrote, baked, ate). If your sentence sounds long or unclear, try switching to active voice.

Test Yourself: Active or Passive?

Choose the correct answer for each sentence. Click Check to see if you are right.

Keep Going — You Are Building Something

You just learned the difference between active and passive voice. That is one of the most important grammar skills in English — and you will never confuse them again.

But here is something interesting. To make passive voice, you need helping words like is, was, and were. These are called auxiliary verbs. But did you know there are three different types of helping verbs, and each one has a completely different job?

Next lesson: Auxiliary Verbs: The Helping Words That Build Every English Sentence