10th Class English Grammar (All Topics) Voice

        Voice

Introduction: Voice is the form of the verb which shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon.  

(i)   Sheila writes an email.

(From this example, we understand that the Subject in the sentence is 'Sheila' who is doing some work.)

(ii)  An email is written by Sheila.

(Again, from this sentence, we understand that some work is going on with the Subject 'An email'.)        

         Kinds of Voice

There are two voices:

(i) Active Voice

(ii) Passive Voice  

            Active Voice

When the Subject of the sentence is the doer or actor, the Verb is Active and said to be in Active Voice.  

(i) He runs.

(ii) I did it.

(iii) He said this.

(iv) She helped me.

(v)  They did all the work.  

            Passive Voice

When the Subject of the sentence is acted upon, the Verb is Passive and is said to be in Passive Voice.  

(i)   It was done by me.

(ii)  This was said by him.

(iii) The letter was posted.

(iv) The thief was arrested.

(v) The sun was covered by cloud.

There is also another kind of Voice called Mid-Voice or Quasi-Passive. The peculiarity of this Voice is that, although it is Active in form, it is Passive in meaning.  

(i)   Candy tastes sweet.

(It means, candy is sweet when tasted.)

(ii)   Iron feels hard.

(It means, iron is hard when it is felt.)

(iii) Oil feels greasy.

(It means, oil is greasy when felt or touched.)

There are certain rules associated with changing the Active Voice into Passive Voice.  

Rules for changing Active Voice into Passive Voice  

1.       The Object of the Active is changed into Subject of the Passive.

2.       The Subject of the Active is changed into Object of the Passive.

3.       According to the Subject made in the Passive, there is the usage of the helping Verb. If it is not the helping Verb 'to be', then according to the helping Verb present there, a form of 'to be' is taken into usage.

4.       After 'to be' there is the usage of.

5.       Preposition 'by' is used before the Object made in the Passive. This (by + Object) is also known as (by + Agent), which is completely optional.