Active and Passive Voice

🟢 Lite — Quick Review (1h–1d)

Rapid summary for last-minute revision before your exam.

Active vs. Passive Voice — Quick Facts

• Active voice: The subject performs the action. “The dog bit the man.”
• Passive voice: The subject receives the action. “The man was bitten by the dog.”
• In passive, the object of the active verb becomes the subject

Passive Structure: Subject + be verb (am/is/are/was/were/been/being) + past participle (+ by agent)

Tense-wise Conversion (Present/Past)

Active	Passive
He writes a letter.	A letter is written (by him).
He wrote a letter.	A letter was written (by him).
He has written a letter.	A letter has been written (by him).

⚡ Exam Tip: JAMB frequently asks you to identify or transform sentences between active and passive. The key is getting the correct form of “be” + past participle. If you see “by + agent,” the sentence is almost certainly passive.

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🟡 Standard — Regular Study (2d–2mo)

Standard content for students with a few days to months.

Full Tense Conversion Chart

Tense	Active	Passive
Present Simple	He writes	is written
Present Continuous	He is writing	is being written
Present Perfect	He has written	has been written
Past Simple	He wrote	was written
Past Continuous	He was writing	was being written
Past Perfect	He had written	had been written
Future Simple	He will write	will be written
Future Perfect	He will have written	will have been written
Present Infinitive	to write	to be written
Past Infinitive	to have written	to have been written

When to Prefer Passive Voice

1. The agent (doer) is unknown: “My wallet was stolen.”
2. The agent is irrelevant: “Smoking is prohibited here.”
3. The recipient is more important: “The president was assassinated.”
4. To be diplomatic/formal: “It is believed that…” rather than “People believe…”
5. To emphasise the action rather than the actor

Modal Verbs in Passive Structure: Modal + be + past participle

• can be done / could be done
• may be done / might be done
• must be done
• should be done / ought to be done
• will be done / would be done

Examples:

• The assignment must be submitted by Friday.
• The results could be released next week.

⚡ JAMB Trap: “The letter is writing by him” is wrong. In passive voice, you NEVER use “is writing” — you use “is written” (be + past participle). The verb after “be” is always the past participle, never the present participle.

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🔴 Extended — Deep Study (3mo+)

Comprehensive coverage for students on a longer study timeline.

Impersonal Passive (It + Passive) Used in formal English to report thoughts and sayings:

• It is said that… = People say…
• It is believed that… = People believe…
• It is known that… = Everyone knows…
• It is reported that… = Someone reports…
• It has been proved that… = Someone has proved…

Causative Have (Have/Get Something Done)

• Active causative: “She had the tailor make a dress.” (she causes the tailor to act)
• Passive causative: “She had a dress made (by the tailor).” (the dress is the object of the action)

Special Passive Constructions

1. Object + to be + past participle: This form is always passive.

   • I consider him to be honest. (him = object; to be honest = passive)
   • We believed her to have left. (perfect infinitive passive)

2. Some verbs that DON’T take passive:

   • Intransitive verbs: sleep, die, arrive, happen (no object to promote)
   • “He died a hero.” NOT “A hero was died by him.”

JAMB Active/Passive MCQ Patterns

1. Identify the passive form: “The man ___ the thieves.” → Options include: was seen, was seeing, has seen → Answer: was seen (by the thieves)
2. Transform to passive: “Someone has stolen my bicycle.” → “My bicycle ___.”
3. Spot the error: “The meal was ate by me.” → Should be “The meal was eaten by me.”
4. Modal passive: “You should submit the form.” → “The form should ___.”
5. Tense identification: “By the time we arrived, the guests had been served.” → This is which tense? → Past Perfect Passive

Common JAMB Errors in Passive Voice

Error	Correction
The letter is writing by him	The letter is written by him
The work was did yesterday	The work was done yesterday
She has be chosen captain	She has been chosen captain
He was bore by the lecture	He was bored by the lecture
The cake was ate quickly	The cake was eaten quickly

⚡ Previous Year JAMB Focus: Active and passive voice questions appear in 3-5 MCQs per Use of English paper. The most common format is identifying the correct passive transformation of a given active sentence. Students are also tested on modal passive (“should be done,” “must be submitted”) and tense-based passive forms, especially the present perfect and past perfect passive.