Along with each reason, you will find an example. Take a look at some of the reasons why you might prefer to use passive verbs overactive verbs. However, there are some instances where you might want to use passive verbs. When you’re writing in any academic setting, active verbs are usually encouraged because they produce an active voice. There are many different reasons why passive verbs are used. Listen to the news and you should find plenty of examples of sentences with passive verbs. They are, however, often used in journalism. Passive voices shouldn’t be used in essays. When you use passive verbs, you are using a passive voice. Looking at the examples below, try to identify which are passive verbs. Recall that when we have a passive verb, the subject of the sentence is having the verb performed onto them. Now that we’ve looked at some examples of active verbs, let’s turn to look at passive verb examples. Active voices are usually used in essays and in day-to-day life.

When you use active verbs, you are using an active voice. Let’s take a look at the answers, as well as an explanation for why. The tornado destroyed much of what was left. Try your best to break down each example and decide whether or not they are using an active verb or passive verb. Remember that an active verb is used when the subject of the sentence is performing the verb. Let’s break down an example of an active verb. Again, breaking down each section gives us more clarity on why this voice is an active one. Let’s take a look at an example of an active voice. Here, we can break down each section as an example to see why the voice is passive or active. Let’s take a look at an example of a passive voice. Subject is receiving the action from the verbĪs you can see, when a speaker is using passive verbs, they are employing a passive voice. Now that you understand what is and active and passive verb, let’s take a look at the definitions of an active and passive voice below. One easy way to spot the difference between an active and passive verb is to understand whether the speaker is taking an active or passive tone. How do you know if a verb is active or passive? Let’s take a look at some examples of passive verbs. Who or what is receiving the action of the verb When the subject is being put through the verb action Let’s take a look at passive verbs definition:

Now that we’ve covered an active verbs definition, let’s take a look at some active verbs examples. Who or what the sentence is about (performing action verbs) When the subject of the verb is performing the action

Take a look at the definition of active verbs below. Instead, it is dependent on what the subject in the sentence is doing. When we talk about active and passive verbs, then, we’re not really talking too much about the conjugation of the verb. Compare the conjugation of the verb ‘to run’ in English versus french. In the English language, verb conjugation is pretty simple in comparison to other languages. To run, to walk, to swim, to laugh, to haveĪs you can see, verbs can sometimes make up the bulk of our dialogue. Take a look at the table below for the standard definition of a verb.Įxpresses an action or state that usually relates two things In order to understand active and passive verbs, let’s first define what a verb is.

Active voice verbs