A. Read the following passage:

Robi is reading a story book. The book is written by a famous writer of Bangladesh. Robi likes stories about the freedom fighters in the book. Our freedom fighters are honoured by the whole world. They sacrificed their life for our motherland.

There are two types of sentences in the above passage.

Notice the sentence:

Robi is reading a story book.

Subject verb object

It is in the active voice. The subject here is the doer of an action.

Notice the sentence:

The book is written by a famous writer of Bangladesh.

Subject — verb ------------ doer of the action

It is in the passive voice. The subject (the book) here is the 'receiver' of the action. It does not perform any action.

More examples:

Active: The ball hit Jessica.

Passive: Jessica was hit by the ball.

Active: Jahid wrote a letter.

Passive: The letter was written by Jahid.

Active: John took a picture.
Passive: A picture was taken by John.

Note: To change an active sentence into a passive one:
a) If we want to specify who is the 'doer' in a passive sentence, we use 'by' after the main verb in an assertive sentence and then mention the agent.
For example:
Active: Mira broke the glass.
Passive: The glass was broken by Mira. (by +agent)

Structure:
Active sentence: subject + verb+ object
Passive sentence: subject+be + past participle + by + agent
b) Sometimes agents are not mentioned in the passive voice. For example:
Active : People speak English all over the world.
Passive: English is spoken all over the world.

B. Look at the following changes. If there are pronouns as subject in the active voice, they change their forms in the passive voice.

Some sentences have a direct and an indirect object. Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in the passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, while the other one remains an object. Which object you will change into the subject depends on what you want to put the emphasis on.

We can change it in two ways:
Active : The teacher taught us English.
Passive : i) English is taught to us by the teacher.
ii) We are taught English by the teacher.

Active : Mother told me a story.

Passive : i) A story was told me by mother.
ii) I was told a story by mother.

More examples:

Note:
The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb. Therefore, sentences which do not have an object cannot be changed into the passive. The following sentences, for instance, CANNOT be changed into the passive because they do not have objects.
The old man sat on the floor.
The child sleeps.
The wind blows.
The dog barks.
Fire burns.
He laughed aloud.

C. Read the following passage and underline the active and passive verbs:

The Sonargaon folk museum was built in the area named Narayangonj. It has been artistically decorated for the visitors. It stores many archaeological things including Bronze statues and caskets, terracotta plaques, utensils, coins, jewelries, pottery etc. They have a great historical value. The government has taken many steps to enhance the facilities for the visitors.

D. Use the following verbs in active and passive forms:

touch, invite, decorate, touch, break, request

E. Change the sentences into the passive voice. Mention the tense of the verb.

Our new teacher teaches us English. Now he is teaching us a new lesson. We have completed the lesson on paragraphs. We are practicing the new lesson. Our teacher taught us the skills of learning language. Last week we were practicing pronunciation. We had learnt the uses of articles before we learnt the rules. We will write a paragraph tomorrow.