Active vs Passive Voice Explained! | Easy Grammar Lesson + Mini Quiz — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hi, let's warm up with a quick quiz.
2. 0:03I'll read two sentences and you decide
3. 0:06active or passive. And don't worry if
4. 0:08you're not sure because that's exactly
5. 0:10why we're here. Jenny paints beautiful
6. 0:14pictures. The window was broken by the
7. 0:17wind. Which one is active and which one
8. 0:21is passive?
9. 0:23Got your answers? Keep them in mind and
10. 0:25stay until the end for a quiz to see how
11. 0:28much you've learned. Let's begin with
12. 0:31the big question. What is voice? Voice
13. 0:34tells us who or what is doing the action
14. 0:37in a sentence. Let's first look at
15. 0:40active voice. The subject is doing the
16. 0:43action. The subject is active. Let's
17. 0:47look at the sentence from earlier. Jenny
18. 0:50paints beautiful pictures. What is the
19. 0:52subject here? It's Jenny. She's the one
20. 0:56doing the action. She paints. And
21. 1:00because the subject is doing the action,
22. 1:03the sentence is written in the active
23. 1:05voice. Now, let's look at passive voice.
24. 1:09Here, the subject is receiving the
25. 1:11action. The subject is passive. Here's
26. 1:16the other sentence from earlier. The
27. 1:18window was broken by the wind. What is
28. 1:21the subject here? the window. Now, is
29. 1:25the window doing the action? Is the
30. 1:28window breaking something? No. So, the
31. 1:31window is receiving the action. It was
32. 1:34broken by the wind. So, this sentence is
33. 1:38written in the passive voice. To figure
34. 1:41out if a sentence is active or passive,
35. 1:44look at the subject and ask yourself, is
36. 1:47the subject doing the action or
37. 1:50receiving it? And if you're not sure
38. 1:52about the subject and predicate, I'll
39. 1:54provide a video link in the corner of
40. 1:56this video and in the description for
41. 1:59you to check it out. It's best to
42. 2:01understand the basics before diving into
43. 2:03active or passive voice. Now, let's look
44. 2:06at some examples of active and passive
45. 2:08voice sentences. The cat chases the
46. 2:11bird. The cat is the subject and chases
47. 2:15is the verb. Who's doing the action? The
48. 2:19cat is. So the cat is an active subject.
49. 2:23Therefore, this sentence is written in
50. 2:25the active voice.
51. 2:28The bird is chased by the cat. The bird
52. 2:32is the subject and is chased is the
53. 2:35verb. The bird is receiving, not doing
54. 2:39the action. Therefore, the bird is a
55. 2:42passive subject and the sentence is
56. 2:44written in the passive voice.
57. 2:47The students cleaned the classroom. The
58. 2:51student is the subject and cleaned is
59. 2:54the verb. Who's doing the action here?
60. 2:57The students are. So, the students is an
61. 3:01active subject. Therefore, this sentence
62. 3:04is written in the active voice.
63. 3:08The classroom is cleaned by the
64. 3:10students.
65. 3:12The classroom is the subject and is
66. 3:15cleaned is the verb. The classroom is
67. 3:18receiving or not doing the action.
68. 3:22Therefore, the classroom is a passive
69. 3:24subject and the sentence is written in
70. 3:26the passive voice. So, how do we know
71. 3:29when to use passive and active voice? We
72. 3:32use active or passive voice depending on
73. 3:34clarity and purpose. We use active voice
74. 3:38when you want to be clearer and easier
75. 3:40to understand. Tom fixed the computer.
76. 3:44You instantly know who did what.
77. 3:48We also use it for shorter and more
78. 3:50concise sentences. Passive voice often
79. 3:52requires extra words like the computer
80. 3:56was fixed by Tom when you can simply say
81. 4:00Tom fixed the computer. If you want to
82. 4:02use active voice,
83. 4:04we use passive voice when the actor is
84. 4:07unknown, like my bike was stolen. We
85. 4:11don't know who stole it. Or when the
86. 4:14actor isn't important. The window was
87. 4:17repaired yesterday. The result matters
88. 4:20that the window was repaired, not who
89. 4:22did it. Now, let's learn how to rewrite
90. 4:26passive voice into active voice sentence
91. 4:29and vice versa.
92. 4:32The pasta was cooked by the chef. First,
93. 4:36identify the verb cooked. Second, ask
94. 4:40yourself who is doing the action. The
95. 4:43chef is the one who cooked.
96. 4:46Third, rewrite the sentence with the
97. 4:49doer as the subject. The chef cooked the
98. 4:53pasta. This time, let's rewrite active
99. 4:57to passive voice. Liam washed the car.
100. 5:02First, identify the verb washed.
101. 5:06Second, ask who is receiving the action
102. 5:09or not doing the action or the car is.
103. 5:15Third, rewrite the sentence with the
104. 5:17receiver as the subject.
105. 5:20The car is washed by Liam. Here's a
106. 5:24quick question for you. Which version do
107. 5:26you use more often, active or passive?
108. 5:29Tell me in the comments so I can see how
109. 5:31you write. It's time for a quiz. Ready
110. 5:34to test yourself? Write your answers in
111. 5:36the comments so I can see how you did.
112. 5:39Tell me if each sentence is active or
113. 5:42passive. The keys were found under the
114. 5:46couch.
115. 5:48Mom waters the plants every morning.
116. 5:52The story was written in 1995.
117. 5:56The singer performed the new song.
118. 6:00The door was opened by the guard.
119. 6:05Time to check. The keys were found under
120. 6:08the couch. Passive voice. Mom waters the
121. 6:13plants every morning. Active. The story
122. 6:17was written in 1995.
123. 6:20Passive.
124. 6:22The singer performed the new song.
125. 6:25Active. The door was opened by the
126. 6:29guard. Passive. How did you do? Let me
127. 6:33know how you did in the comments. And
128. 6:35while you're there, let me know which
129. 6:37topic should I teach next. Thanks for
130. 6:39learning with me on Tiny Teaching Tube.
131. 6:41And if this helped you, please like,
132. 6:44subscribe, and share the video with a
133. 6:46friend who's learning English. See you
134. 6:48in the next lesson. Bye.