Examples of active and passive voice in 7th grade writing

📚 Quick Study Guide

• 🔍 Active voice: The subject performs the action. Example: The dog chased the ball. (The dog does the chasing.)
• 📝 Passive voice: The subject receives the action. Example: The ball was chased by the dog. (The ball is acted upon.)
• 💡 Identifying passive voice: Look for a form of 'to be' (is, are, was, were, been, being) + a past participle (usually ending in -ed or -en).
• ✍️ Changing from active to passive: The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. The subject of the active sentence often becomes the object of the preposition 'by'.
• 🧠 Why use passive voice? Sometimes, the actor isn't important or unknown. Other times, it's used to emphasize the action or the object being acted upon.
• 📌 Not every sentence with a 'to be' verb is passive! Example: The dog is sleeping. (This is active voice, present continuous tense.)

🧪 Practice Quiz

1. Which of the following sentences is in active voice?
   1. A. The cake was eaten by John.
   2. B. John ate the cake.
   3. C. The cake is baking in the oven.
   4. D. The cake will be decorated.
2. Which of the following sentences is in passive voice?
   1. A. The cat sleeps on the rug.
   2. B. The rug is slept on by the cat.
   3. C. The cat is sleeping.
   4. D. The cat will sleep.
3. Identify the verb tense in the following passive sentence: The letter was delivered yesterday.
   1. A. Present tense
   2. B. Future tense
   3. C. Past tense
   4. D. Present perfect tense
4. Which sentence correctly changes the active sentence 'The artist painted the portrait' to passive voice?
   1. A. The portrait painted the artist.
   2. B. The portrait was painting by the artist.
   3. C. The portrait was painted by the artist.
   4. D. The artist was painted by the portrait.
5. Choose the sentence that uses passive voice to emphasize the action rather than the actor.
   1. A. The scientist discovered a new element.
   2. B. A new element was discovered.
   3. C. The discovery was made by the scientist.
   4. D. Scientists make discoveries.
6. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of passive voice?
   1. A. Use of a form of 'to be' verb
   2. B. The subject performs the action
   3. C. Use of a past participle
   4. D. The actor may be unknown or unimportant
7. Rewrite the following sentence in passive voice: 'The wind blew down the tree.'
   1. A. The tree blew down the wind.
   2. B. The tree was blew down by the wind.
   3. C. The tree was blown down by the wind.
   4. D. The wind was blown down by the tree.