210. Intransitive verbs are always active voice. Let the student explain why.
Meaning of passive voice.
211. In the assertion of an action, it would be natural to suppose, that, instead of always representing the subject as acting upon some person or thing, it must often happen that the subject is spoken of as acted upon; and the person or thing acting may or may not be expressed in the sentence: for example,—
All infractions of love and equity in our social relations are speedily punished. They are punished by fear.—Emerson.
Here the subject infractions does nothing: it represents the object toward which the action of are punished is directed, yet it is the subject of the same verb. In the first sentence the agent is not expressed; in the second, fear is the agent of the same action.
So that in this case, instead of having the agent and subject the same word, we have the object and subject the same word, and the agent may be omitted from the statement of the action.
Passive is from the Latin word patior, meaning to endure or suffer; but in ordinary grammatical use passive means receiving an action.
Definition.
212. The passive voice is that form of the verb which represents the subject as being acted upon; or—