What are the differences between active and passive voice? When is it more appropriate to use each?
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Active voice emphasizes the subject performing the action, while passive voice highlights the action being performed on the subject. ACTIVE VOICE Structure: Subject + Verb + Object E.g. The manager approved the proposal. PASSIVE VOICE Structure: Subject + Form of "to be" + Past Participle E.g. The proposal was approved by the manager.
Active voice: The subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. Subject +Verb+ Object eg, The chef (subject) prepared (verb) the meal (Object). Active voice is usually clearer and more direct. Passive voice: The subject of a sentence is acted upon by the verb. Object + form of ''to be'' + past participle+ by subject) eg, The meal (object) was prepared (verb) by the chef (subject) Use when the action or result is more important than the subject than when the subject is unknown irrelevant.
in Active voice the subject performance the action expressed by the verb for example the dog chased the hen , in this sentence the dog is the(subject) the (verb) is chased and the (object) is the hen. use active voice to make your writing clear and directly. when to use active voice; essay writing, reports and stories passive voice the subject is acted upon for example the mouse was chased by the cat, mouse subject chased verb cat agent. when to use passive voice the doer of the action is unknown .when the subject is unknown, irrelevant .
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We say a sentence is in the active voice when it follows an SVO pattern, that is Subject Verb Object as in this example : Tom[subject ] kicks [ Verb } the ball { Object ] In the passive voice, the positions of subject and object swap. The object takes the position of the subject in a sentence and so does the subject. Note that even if their positions shift, their roles or functions do not. Passive voice follows the OVS pattern as in this example : The ball [ Object ]was kicked [Verb ] by Thabo [ Subject ].
The difference is that Active voice is clear and direct, shows us who is doing what. And passive voice focuses on the action or result, can be used when the doer unknown or unimportant. Examples: John cleaned the room. Active voice (we know who and what was done) The room was cleaned. Passive voice (We've got the result, we are not interested in other details.
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