voice (grammar)

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In grammar, the form of the verb which in English gives two different ways of viewing the action of the verb. ‘The police officer arrested the criminal’ is active while ‘The criminal was arrested by the police officer’ is passive. See active voice and passive voice.

When a verb is in the active voice (as in the first sentence), the subject of the sentence (the police officer) is the one that performs the action. When a verb is in the passive voice (second sentence), the subject of the sentence (the criminal) is acted upon by the verb. The active object in the first sentence (the criminal) is the same as the passive subject in the second sentence. The active subject in the first sentence (the police officer) is put into a phrase in the passive (second) sentence with the word by.

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