Experts assume that the diamond is priceless.reporting verb: agrees (simple present)|subject (3 rd person singular) + is + participle of reporting verb + main verb infinitive: to be This sculpture the artist’s greatest work. it is + participle of reporting verb + that It this sculpture is the artist’s greatest work. Everybody agrees that this sculpture is the artist’s greatest work.reporting verb: say (simple present) →|subject (3 rd person plural) + are + participle of reporting verb + main verb infinitive: to have|irregular verb: say-said-said it is + participle of reporting verb + that|irregular verb: say-said-said

It these museums have wonderful exhibits. Visitors say that these museums have wonderful exhibits.→ It is thought that he earns a lot of money. Example: They think that he earns a lot of money. “His shoes were being put on by him” is a good example where both these tests work.Rewrite the sentences in two ways: once in the impersonal passive and once in the personal passive. You know the ones where the verb is preceded by “be”, “was”, “is” or “are”. They aren’t always passive but it’s pretty common. Those are verbs that are followed by the word “by”. How do you switch a piece of writing from passive voice to active voice? And now you’ve been told you should have written it in active voice. So you’ve already written your book or story or whatever you’re doing. If your focus is always on showing the person acting then you’ll naturally write in an active voice. If the focus then switches to a response - the villain punches the hero back - you need to change the focus to the other party. If your hero is the focus then they need to be the subject when action occurs. Who is the main actor in the scene? Focus on what they are doing.

Think of yourself as the camera operator. The simplest answer is to always keep focus on who is doing the acting. The writer writes both but you’ll notice that he (or she) is the subject in the first and the object in the second. On the other hand, the passive voice is written by the writer. Clear as mud? How this… a writer writes with an active voice. Or typewriter or whatever you use to write with.įirst off, the active voice is where the subject performs the action defined by the verb on the subject. But like a spice it should be used with a delicate hand. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write in the passive voice. Most of those reasons have to do with either the readability or the emotional connection of the two writing styles. Writing in an active voice is generally considered to be better than writing in passive voice. Okay, time to change to a more serious tone.

Modal verbs in passive voice exercises