CBSE Class 8 English Grammar Active and Passive Voice

1. Consider the following sentences :
Lata sings a song.
A song is sung by Lata.
There is practically no difference in the meanings of these two sentences. These are two different ways of presenting the same thing. But in the first sentence the Subject performs the action while in the second sentence, the Subject of the Verb is acted upon. It means that it (the Subject) becomes the object in the second sentence.
Thus, the voice shows whether the Subject of a Verb acts or is acted upon.

Active Voice : When the Subject of a Verb acts, the Verb is said to be in the Active Voice ; as—
I made a mistake.
Passive Voice : When the object of the Active Voice becomes the Subject, the Verb is said to be in the Passive Voice ; as—
A mistake was made by me.
The Subject dominates in Active Voice but the Object dominates in Passive Voice.
Note. It is only the form of the verb in a sentence which shows whether the subject is the doer or the receiver of the action. A sentence in passive voice may or may not have the ‘by’ phrase attached. Thus in the above sentences, ‘A mistake was made’ is a complete sentence.

2. Rules for changing a Verb from the Active Voice into the Passive Voice:

1. The object of the Active Verb is made the Subject of the Passive Verb.
2. The Subject of the Active Verb is made the object of some Preposition (generally ‘by’).
3. The Verb of the Active Voice gets the Past Participle form of the Finite Verb and some form of the verb ‘to be’ [be, is, am. are, has been, was, were, had been, will be, is being etc.) will be used before it in the passive voice.
4. Some vague and indefinite subjects like ‘everyone’, ‘they’, ‘people’, ‘someone’, ‘somebody’, ‘everybody’, ‘anybody’, etc. are dropped if they are the subjects of the active voice. If so, the preposition ‘by’ is also not used.
5. The Tense of the Verb does not change.

Example: He has done his work. (Active)
His work has been done by him. (Passive)

3. The Pronouns [when these act as subject) are changed as given below :

Subject		Object
I	becomes	me
We	becomes	us
You	becomes	you
She	becomes	her
He	becomes	him
They	becomes	them
It	becomes	it
Who	becomes	whom

4. The following table gives the form of the verb ‘see’ in Passive Voice in the various Tenses :
TENSE CHART [Passive Voice)

Tense	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect
Present	is/am/are + verb in third form is seen am seen are seen	is/am/are + being + verb in third form is being seen am being seen are being seen	has/have + been + verb in third form has been seen have been seen
Past	was/were + verb in third form was seen were seen	was/were + being + verb in third form was being seen were being seen	had + been + verb in third form had been seen
Future	will/shall + be + verb in third form will be seen shall be seen	— No change	will/shall + have been + verb in third form will have been seen shall have been seen

Note. The following four types of sentences cannot be changed into passive voice :
1. Present Perfect Continuous.
2. Past Perfect Continuous.
3. Future Continuous.
4. Future Perfect Continuous.

Exercise 1
(Solved)

Rewrite the following sentences putting the Verbs given against them in the appropriate Passive Voice form :
1. She …………. up by her aunt. (bring)
2. Invitation cards …………. to all her friends. (send)
3. You will …………. to the feast. (invite)
4. The result …………. on Monday. (declare)
5. They …………. at the report of the gun. (alarm)
6. We …………. at his failure. (shock)
Answers:
1. was brought
2. have been sent
3. be invited
4. was declared/will be declared
5. were alarmed
6. were shocked

Change the voice of the following sentences :
1. She sings a sweet song.
2. Do you not play hockey ?
3. Does he sell lottery tickets ?
4. I am bending the branch.
5. Is she boiling potatoes ?
6. Are the servants bringing tea ?
Answers:
1. A sweet song is sung by her.
2. Is hockey not played by you ?
3. Are lottery tickets sold by him ?
4. The branch is being bent by me.
5. Are the potatoes being boiled by her ?
6. Is tea being brought by the servants ?

Exercise 2
(Solved)

Rearrange the following into meaningful sentences :
1. this novel / Premchand / was / by / written
2. the brave / admired / everywhere / are
3. a doll / the baby / given / was
4. them / I / known / am / to
5. by / the door / whom / opened / was ?
6. him / a reward / to / given / was
7. one / one’s / keep / should / promise
8. kept / be / should / promise
Answers:
1. This novel was written by Premchand.
2. The brave are admired everywhere.
3. The baby was given a doll.
4. I am known to them.
5. By whom was the door opened ?
6. A reward was given to him.
7. One should keep one’s promise.
8. Promise should be kept.

Exercise 3
(Solved)

Fill in the blanks in the following choosing one word each for every blank.

was, endured, be, opened, was opened, offered, considered, has, being

1. I …………. the door.
2. The gate …………. by the gatekeeper.
3. My pocket …………. been picked.
4. The work is …………. done.
5. I …………. taught to read English.
6. He is …………. a wise man.
7. What cannot …………. cured must be
8. He was …………. a chair.
Answers:
1. opened
2. was opened
3. has
4. being
5. was
6. considered
7. be, endured
8. offered

Exercise 4
(Solved)

The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find the missing word and write it along with one word that comes before it and the one that comes after it.
He asked to go down to the end of (a) _______
the garden. He was also to wash himself in water of the river there. The same (b) _______
water was and sprinkled over everything (c) _______
which had changed into gold by Mida’s (d) _______
touch. The king felt a weight had lifted (e) _______
from his heart. He freed of the golden touch. (f) _______
Answers:
(a) He was asked
(b) also told to
(c) was brought and
(d) had been changed
(e) had been lifted
(f) He was freed

Exercise 5
(Solved)

The following passage has not been edited. There is a word missing in each line. Find the missing word and write it along with one word that comes before it and the one that comes after it.
I elected to the Committee of the society. (a) _______
I was in advance that 1 was supposed to attend (b) _______
every meeting. But I was not much to (c) _______
speaking. My friends called me a drone. The banter appreciated. A drone is (d) _______
generally to be a thorough idler. Not that (e) _______
I was not to speak but the words failed me. (f) _______
Answers:
(a) I was elected
(b) was told in
(c) much used to
(d) banter was appreciated
(e) generally thought to
(f) not willing to

Exercise 6
(For Practice)

Say whether the following are Active or Passive Voice sentences.
1. They have not come yet.
2. Papers are thrown all over.
3. The earthquake destroyed the entire city.
4. The dogs are not allowed here.
5. You could do it easily.
6. The book is written in Hindi.
7. They guard that house.
8. The minority rights are protected.

Exercise 7
(For Practice)

Change the Voice of the following sentences :
1. This ticket will be given to you by the manager.
2. Why have you done this ?
3. A car ran over the dog.
4. We must obey the laws of the land.
5. By whom was the fair inaugurated ?
6. Gopal stole her butter.

Multiple Choice Questions
Exercise 1

Fill in the blanks in the following sentences using one of the options from the brackets :
1. A snake …………….. (kill/killed/was killed/has been killed) by him yesterday.
2. We …………….. (shock/shocked/are shocked/is shocked) at his failure.
3. This could be …………….. (do/did/does/done) by you easily.
4. The dog was …………….. (run/ran/running/had run) over by a car.
Answers:
1. was killed
2. are shocked
3. done
4. run

Exercise 2

underlined words in the following sentences have been wrongly used. Supply the correct word/words from the options given below each sentence :
Question 1.
The speaker be cheered loudly when he had finished.
(a) is
(b) are
(c) was
(d) being

Question 2.
She give a reward by the minister.
(a) gives
(b) gave
(c) was given
(d) was giving

Question 3.
He ask to go away by his boss yesterday.
(a) is asked
(b) was asked
(c) will be asked
(d) had been asked

Question 4.
Ram elect the president of the union by the students.
(a) election
(b) was elected
(c) were elected
(d) elected
Answers:
1. (c) was
2. (c) was given
3. (b) was asked
4. (b) was elected

Exercise 3

Complete the following passage by choosing the correct passive forms of the verbs given in brackets from the alternatives given below the passage :
1. It (a) …………….. (decide) to change the pattern of question paper. It (b) …………….. hope) that the new pattern (c) …………….. (like) by the students.
(a)
(i) is decided
(ii) will be decided
(iii) has been decided
(iv) is being decided

(b)
(i) has been hoped
(ii) was hoped
(iii) will be hoped
(iv) is hoped

Answers:
1.
(a) (iii) has been decided
(b) (iv) is hoped
(c) (ii) will be liked

CBSE Class 8 English Grammar Active and Passive Voice