Active and passive voice with Modal Verbs

Here you are going to learn how to change voice of interrogative sentences.

Questions beginning with do/does

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with do/does is

Do/does + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Does she cook the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Am/is/are + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Is the food cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Does Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
  Is homework written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Does Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
  Is English learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• Does Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
  Is cricket played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with am/is/are

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with am/is/are is

Am/is/are + subject + verb + ing + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Is she cooking the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Am/is/are + subject + being + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Is the food being cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

Note: You might have noticed that whenever there is verb + ing in active voice, we are using being + V-3 in passive voice.

See some more examples to clarify this

• Is Shubham writing homework? (Active Voice)
  Is homework being written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Is Simran learning English? (Active Voice)
  Is English being learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• Is Sachin playing cricket? (Active Voice)
  Is cricket being played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with did

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with did is

Did + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Did she cook the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Was/were + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Was the food cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Did Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
  Was homework written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Did Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
  Was English learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• Did Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
  Was cricket played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with was/were

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with was/were is

Was/were + subject + verb + ing + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Was she cooking the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Was/were + subject + being + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Was the food being cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Was Shubham writing homework? (Active Voice)
  Was homework being written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Was Simran learning English? (Active Voice)
  Was English being learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• Was Sachin playing cricket? (Active Voice)
  Was cricket being played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with have/has/had

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with have/has/had is

Have/has/had + subject + V-3 + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Has she cooked the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Have/has/had + subject + been + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Has the food been cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Has Shubham written homework? (Active Voice)
  Has homework been written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Has Simran learnt English? (Active Voice)
  Has English been learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• Had Sachin played cricket? (Active Voice)
  Had cricket been played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with modals

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with modals is

Modal + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Can she cook the food? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is V-3 verb and ‘the food’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

Modal + subject + be + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Ex: Can the food be cooked by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Should Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
  Should homework be written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)

• Would Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
  Would English be learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)

• May Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
  May cricket be played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

‘Wh’ questions

Questions starting with what, why, where, when, who, whom etc are known as ‘wh’ questions

Normal structure of ‘wh’ questions in active voice is

‘Wh’ word + auxiliary + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)

Ex: Why did she punish you? (Active Voice)

(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘punish’ is verb and ‘you’ is object.)

While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes

‘Wh’ word + auxiliary + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)

Why were you punished by her? (Passive Voice)

(Here ‘you’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘punished’ is V-3 (past participle) of punish, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))

See some more examples to clarify this

• Why have you bought this ticket? (Active Voice)
  Why has this ticket been bought by you? (Passive Voice)

• When will you return the book? (Active Voice)
  When will the book be returned by you? (Passive Voice)

• What did she buy? (Active Voice)
  What was bought by her? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with ‘who’

In such kind of sentences who acts as subject.

See some examples to clear this

• Who wrote this letter? (Active Voice)
  By whom was this letter written? (Passive Voice)

• Who will call him? (Active Voice)
  By whom will he be called? (Passive Voice)

• Who painted this beautiful painting? (Active Voice)
  By whom was this beautiful painting painted? (Passive Voice)

• Who invited you? (Active Voice)
  By whom are you invited? (Passive Voice)

• Who can break Sachin’s record? (Active Voice)
  By whom can Sachin’s record be broken? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with ‘whom’

• Whom has the principal honoured? (Active Voice)
  Who has been honoured by the principal? (Passive Voice)

• Whom has the police arrested? (Active Voice)
  Who has been arrested by police? (Passive Voice)

• Whom have the people elected? (Active Voice)
  Who has been elected by the people? (Passive Voice)

• Whom have the selectors selected? (Active Voice)
  Who has been selected by the selectors? (Passive Voice)

• Whom has she called? (Active Voice)
  Who has been called by her? (Passive Voice)

What Is Voice in Grammar?

What Is Active Voice? (With Examples)

What Is Passive Voice? (With Examples)

General rules for active voice and passive voice

Active and passive voice Rule with Tenses

Active and passive voice: overview chart

Active and passive voice with Imperative Sentences

Active and passive voice Rule with modals

Active and Passive Voice Rules - Simple Present tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules – Present Continuous Tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules – Present Perfect Tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules – Past Indefinite Tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules – Past continuous tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules – Past perfect tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules - Simple future tense

Active and Passive Voice Rules - Future perfect Tense

Active and Passive Voice of Interrogative Sentences

Active and Passive Voice Of Imperative Sentences

Active and passive voice with Modal Verbs