ACTIVE & PASSIVE VOICE

Active Form

In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Examples:

Passive Form

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

tense	active	passive
present simple	I make a cake	A cake is made (by me)
present continuous	I am making a cake	A cake is being made (by me)
past simple	I made a cake	A cake was made (by me)
past continuous	I was making a cake	A cake was being made (by me)
present perfect	I have made a cake	A cake has been made (by me)
pres. perf. continuous	I have been making a cake	A cake has been being made(by me)
past perfect	I had made a cake	A cake had been made (by me)
future simple	I will make a cake	A cake will be made (by me)
future perfect	I will have made a cake	A cake will have been made(by me)