Active and passive
I can tell active from passive, and switch a sentence between them.
For grown-ups: this lesson in words
Year 6 · English
Active and passive: I can tell active from passive, and switch a sentence between them.
The dog chased the cat. This is an active sentence.
Chased is the verb, the action. Who did the chasing? The dog.
The dog is the subject. In an active sentence, the subject does the action.
The cat is the object. The chasing is done to the cat.
Picture: The sentence "The dog chased the cat.", with "dog" labelled subject, "chased" labelled verb and "cat" labelled object, "The dog" marked as a noun phrase and "the cat" marked as a noun phrase.
The cat was chased by the dog. Same dog, same cat, same chasing.
The verb is now two words: was chased.
The cat comes first, so the cat is the subject. But the chasing is done to the cat.
The doer, the dog, goes to the end after the word by. This is a passive sentence.
Picture: The sentence "The cat was chased by the dog.", with "cat" labelled subject, "was" labelled verb and "chased" labelled verb, "The cat" marked as a noun phrase and "by", "the" and "dog" underlined.
Active or passive? Ask: does the subject do the action, or is the action done to the subject?
Zara baked the cake. Zara does the baking. Active.
The cake was baked by Zara. The cake has the baking done to it. Passive.
Tom ate the pie: active. The letters were posted: passive, with no doer named. More than one letter, so were.
Picture: Sorting into 2 groups: Active, Passive. Active: Zara baked the cake. (cake), Tom ate the pie. (pie). Passive: The cake was baked by Zara. (cake), The letters were posted. (envelope).
Your turn: Aisha painted the fence. Is this sentence active or passive?
Picture: The sentence "Aisha painted the fence."
Choose one:
- Active
- Passive
Answer
The answer: Active
Active. Aisha is the subject, and Aisha does the painting.
Words to know
- active:
- The subject does the action: The dog chased the cat.
- passive:
- The action is done to the subject: The cat was chased by the dog.
- subject:
- Who or what the sentence is about. It comes first.
- doer:
- The one who does the action.
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