Exercise 99—Voice
Voice is that property of the verb that shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon. If the subject acts, the verb is in the active voice. If the subject is acted upon, the verb is in the passive voice. Every sentence containing a transitive verb must have the following parts:
| Agent(doer) | Action | Receiver |
| The runaway horse | injured | John. |
When the sentence is in the order shown above, the subject is the agent, and the verb expresses the action of the agent. When the sentence is written in this order, the verb is said to be in the active voice.
However, without changing the meaning of the sentence, we may change the order of the ideas; thus,
| Receiver | Action | Agent |
| John | was injured | by the runaway horse. |
The receiver of the action has become the subject, and the agent has become part of the predicate, being expressed in the phrase by the runaway horse. When the sentence is expressed in this order, the subject receiving or "suffering" the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice. Only transitive verbs, therefore, may be changed to the passive voice.
Note.—There are certain intransitive verbs that sometimes have a preposition so closely connected with them that the two are treated almost like a transitive verb, and may be made passive; as,
Active: The audience laughed at the speaker.
Passive: The speaker was laughed at by the audience.
Write five sentences in the active voice.