SPaG Depth Set 6
SPaG Depth Set 6 covers the active and passive voice: recognising which one a sentence is written in, converting confidently between the two, and understanding why a writer might deliberately choose the passive voice, for example to emphasise the person or thing affected by an action rather than who carried it out.
Method
- In an active sentence, the subject performs the action of the verb, for example 'The dog chased the ball', with the doer named first.
- In a passive sentence, the subject receives the action instead of performing it, for example 'The ball was chased by the dog', formed using a form of 'to be' plus the past participle of the main verb.
- To convert active to passive, move the object of the active sentence to the front as the new subject, change the verb to 'to be' plus the past participle, and add 'by' before the original doer if it is still mentioned.
- Notice that the passive voice can leave out who did the action entirely, for example 'The window was broken' with no 'by' phrase, which is useful when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or being deliberately left vague.
- Recognise that formal or scientific writing often prefers the passive voice, to focus on the process or result rather than on who carried it out, for example 'The mixture was heated to 80 degrees'.
- Recognise that most narrative and persuasive writing prefers the active voice, since it usually reads as more direct, immediate and easier to follow.
- When editing your own writing, check for passive constructions that hide who is responsible for an action where that information actually matters to the reader, and consider switching to the active voice.
Worked example
Rewrite this sentence in the passive voice, and explain the effect of the change: 'The council closed the old library last year.'
- Identify the active sentence's parts: subject 'the council', the doer, verb 'closed', object 'the old library', the thing affected.
- Move the object 'the old library' to the front, making it the new subject.
- Change the verb to a form of 'to be' plus the past participle: 'closed' becomes 'was closed'.
- Add 'by the council' if the doer is still to be mentioned, or leave it out if the focus should be entirely on the library.
- Write the full passive sentence: 'The old library was closed by the council last year.'
- Explain the effect: the passive version shifts the focus onto the library and the fact it closed, rather than onto the council's action, which can be useful if the writer wants to emphasise the loss of the library itself.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1Identify whether this sentence is active or passive: 'The letter was delivered by the postman.'Show answer
Answer: Passive; the subject 'the letter' receives the action, and the doer 'the postman' is introduced with 'by'.
Q2Rewrite in the passive voice: 'The chef prepared the meal.'Show answer
Answer: The meal was prepared by the chef.
Q3Rewrite in the active voice: 'The trophy was awarded to the winning team by the judges.'Show answer
Answer: The judges awarded the trophy to the winning team.
Q4Explain why a scientist writing up an experiment might write 'The solution was heated' rather than 'I heated the solution.'Show answer
Answer: Because scientific writing conventionally focuses on the process and result of the experiment rather than on who carried it out, and the passive voice removes the need to mention 'I' at all.
Q5'Mistakes were made.' Explain what effect leaving out the doer has in this sentence.Show answer
Answer: It avoids naming who is responsible for the mistakes, which can make the sentence sound evasive or deliberately vague about who is to blame.
Q6Identify the passive construction in: 'The bridge, which had been built over a century ago, was finally repaired last spring.'Show answer
Answer: 'was finally repaired' is the passive construction; the bridge receives the action of repairing, with no doer named.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Rewrite the following sentence in the passive voice, keeping the same meaning: 'The storm destroyed several houses along the coast.' (2 marks)
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Explain, with reference to an example of your own, one reason a writer might deliberately choose the passive voice instead of the active voice. (3 marks)
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A pupil wrote: 'The cake was eaten.' Explain what information this sentence deliberately leaves out compared with 'Jamie ate the cake', and suggest one reason a writer might choose the first version. (3 marks)
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Free printable worksheet
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This topic is chapter 11 of 11+ English Workbook 3, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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