Passive Voice - Past Simple

The passive voice is used to emphasize the result of an action.

We don't mention or don't know the subject.

​Active Voice: The kid feeds the dog.

​Passive Voice: The dog is fed.

If you think the subject (the one performing the action) is more important than the object (the one receiving the action), then we use what is called active voice.

We prefer the active voice when we are more interested in the identity of someone doing an action. The children performed the action of breaking the window.

If you think the object (the one receiving the action) is more important than the subject (the one performing the action) then the object becomes the subject of the sentence. This is called passive voice.

For historical events :

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Paper was invented in China (we don't know who did it)

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To emphasize the importance of the object:

The window was broken

You need the correct form of the verb to be in past (was or were) and the past participle of the main verb.

Decide if the following sentences are active or passive voice.

​Parts of the sentence

Past Simple​