Class 7 English Grammar Chapter 16 The Active and Passive Voice

Voice in grammar plays a pivotal role in portraying the manner in which an action is communicated, and Chapter 16 of Class 7 English Grammar elucidates this concept in-depth. Two primary voices dictate the positioning of the subject in relation to the action – Active and Passive. When the subject stands as the doer of the action, the verb is said to be in the Active Voice. An illustration of this is: “Manank writes a letter,” where Manank, the subject, is the one carrying out the action.

Rules for the Change of Voice

• When a verb is changed from the Active into Passive, the Object of the Active Verb becomes the Subject of the Passive Voice.
• Nominative Case of the Pronoun is changed into Objective Case.
• Only transitive verbs have passive voice.
• Change the verb into third form and put proper form of “to be” (is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being) before if according to the tense of the main verb in the Passive Voice and the number (singular/plural) of the new subject.
• By is used with the agent of action (= doer of the action). But it has to be kept in mind that where action is very important and the agent is unimportant, the preposition “by” and the agent are left out.
• Only transitive verbs have passive voice. If an intransitive Verb becomes Transitive, it too can have its Passive Voice.
• Only eight tenses can be changed into passive voice.
• Future Continuous Tense and the three Perfect Continuous Tenses have no passive forms.

Conversely, when the action is done to the subject, the verb adopts the Passive Voice. A quintessential example of this voice can be observed in the statement: “A letter is written by Manank.” Here, the letter, despite being the subject, receives the action rather than executing it. By understanding the distinction between these voices, learners can enhance the versatility and precision of their written and spoken English.