The passive Voice and active voice

 What is the passive voice used for?

The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.

• The passive voice is used frequently. (= we are interested in the passive voice, not in who uses it.)
• All the cookies have been eaten.
• My car has been stolen!

What is the active voice used for?

In the active voice, the subject is performing an action:

The dog chases the ball. 

Notice how the subject, dog, is performing the action, chase, on the target of the action, ball. This is a simple, direct example of the active voice.

In the passive voice, the action’s target, ball, is positioned first as the focus of the sentence. The sentence gets flipped, and the subject is now being acted upon by the verb. In other words, the subject is passive:

The ball is being chased by the dog.