What is active voice?

Voice is a grammatical category (form) of a verb. There are two voice forms in English: active and passive voice.

The active voice is used when a person/object, as the subject, is performing an action independently. For example:

• Peter painted the house.

This means that the doer (Peter) of the action (painting) is mentioned and is performing the action by himself.

The active voice is used to indicate the relationship between the subject and the verb when the subject is the doer of the action. Mostly, using an active voice makes the sentences direct, clear, and rather short. By the way, if you want to dig deeper, visit https://cambridge.ua/rus/.

The active voice is usually made up of a subject at the beginning of the sentence as the doer of the action, followed by a verb that is either transitive or intransitive. In this case, if the verb is transitive, there is a direct object following it. If the verb is intransitive, we may end up with a complement, but no direct object is used. Look at the examples:

• My mother drinks coffee.
• I ate a grapefruit for breakfast.
• Kate was reading a book.

As noted above, we need to understand another grammatical category: transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs are used to indicate an action that is directed at an object. We can also say that transitive verbs take on the meaning of the subject of a sentence (a noun or a phrase), which receives an action from the verb. A transitive verb is followed by a noun that is the object of the action of the verb. This noun is called the direct object and is used without a preposition. Example:

• to write a letter — to write (what?) a letter;
• to break a cup — to break (what?) a cup;
• to tell a story — to tell (what?) a story;
• to give advice — to give (what?) advice.

Some verbs cannot take on the meaning of an object. These are called intransitive verbs. Intransitive verbs do not need a direct object after them. For example:

• We walked around the city.
• They live in a big house.
• The baby smiled.

Some verbs can be transitive and intransitive, e.g:

• Jane was reading a book. (“Read” can be used without the object of the sentence; it will be clear that she is reading).

It is also clear that it is difficult to talk about the active voice without mentioning the passive voice and without making a comparison between the two. In the passive voice, the subject is the object of the action, not the person doing it. Thus, we can form sentences in the passive voice from the above-given sentences, for example:

• The story was told by my father.
• New pens are bought every year.
• The cup was broken.

Sometimes, there is a subject at the beginning of the sentence, but it is actually the one receiving the action, not doing it. In this case, a passive voice is formed. Look at the examples.

• The woman was robbed.

In this example, the woman (the subject) did not perform the act of robbery.

• The book was read by thousands of people.

In this example, ‘book’ did not perform the act of ‘reading.’

And there are cases where the subject or performer of the action is mentioned at the end of the sentence after the preposition “by.” This is passive voice, not active voice. Here are some examples.

• The dog was fed by its owner.
• The car was left by my father.

One way to identify the active voice is to look at the verbs in the sentence and determine whether they are transitive or intransitive. All sentences in which the verb is intransitive are in the active voice. Check out the following examples to learn more:

• She walked across the street.
• This perfume smells like a flower.
• Kate danced well.

In English, some verbs refer to the state of a person or object rather than an action or process. They are only used in the active voice: have, resemble, become, fit, suit, lack, etc. As an example, take a look at the sentences that are used in the active voice. It is impossible to use the passive voice in this case.

• I resemble my mother.
• Her job has become her life.

Sometimes, you cannot see the subject in the sentences, but it is implied. One of the most important types of active sentences is the imperative. In imperatives, the subject “you” is implied, but it is still considered an active voice.

• Sit down, please.
• Move!
• Turn left over the bridge.

So, we usually use the active voice in transitive sentences with a direct object, intransitive sentences, sentences without subjects, and causative sentences.