![]() ![]() Rather, the mouse receives the action from the cat, and is a passive subject.Īnother reason for this is because when we speak in conversation, typically we use the active voice. Reading the second sentence, “The mouse is scared by the cat.” Here, the mouse is the subject, but the mouse is not performing an action. The subject therefore is doing the action in the sentence, and so this uses the active voice. The cat is the subject, and this cat is in the act of scaring the mouse, (which is the action occurring in the sentence.) The first sentence is written in the active voice: The cat scares the mouse. To see how writing in the passive can be more confusing than using the active, look at these sentences side-by-side: ![]() To look at one more, “The ditch was dug by Bobby.” The ditch here is the subject, since the subject is receiving the action (to be dug by) the sentence is in the passive voice. The book received the action of being read (so to speak,) and therefore is passive in being acted upon, rather than being active itself. Similarly, “The book was read by Deborah.” The book is the subject (the ‘who’ or ‘what’ that the sentence is about,) and again, see how the subject receives the action: The book was read by Deborah. Therefore, it’s written in the passive voice, and not the active voice. See the sentence, “The piano is played by the girl.” The piano is the subject in the sentence, and here it receives the action of the sentence, i.e., ‘played’, since it was played on by the girl. This is what makes the writing here passive: the fact that the sentence subject receives rather than does the verb or action described in the sentence. See how in each example above, the subject of the sentence receives the act, rather than doing the act described.
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