IELTS Passive to Active Voice Transformations

Passive and Active Voice Transformations

Rule Explanation

Passive Voice (e.g., "The cake was eaten by John") is a structure where the focus shifts to the action or the recipient of the action. Active Voice (e.g., "John ate the cake") emphasizes the doer of the action. In IELTS writing and speaking, active voice often leads to clearer, more concise sentences, helping you achieve higher band scores by demonstrating strong sentence structure and effective communication.

In IELTS Academic Writing Task 1, passive voice is commonly used to describe processes and data. However, in Task 2 and in Speaking, active constructions make your arguments more compelling and easier to follow. Demonstrating your ability to switch between passive and active voice shows grammatical range, a key factor in achieving higher band descriptors.

When transforming passive sentences to active voice, follow these key steps:

1. Identify the agent (the doer), usually introduced with "by".
2. Make the agent the new subject of the sentence.
3. Change the verb form to match the original tense and maintain meaning.
4. Remove unnecessary prepositions and adjust word order for clarity.

Common mistakes to avoid: forgetting to adjust the verb tense after conversion, omitting the agent entirely, or misplacing adverbials which can alter the meaning of the sentence.

Example Context: "An important announcement was made by the principal during assembly."

Tips for Converting Passive to Active

• Locate the "by" phrase to find the agent: e.g., "by the researcher".
• Bring the agent to the front: "The researcher analyzed the data."
• Ensure the verb tense stays consistent: "was analyzed" → "analyzed".
• Check subject-verb agreement once you change the subject.
• Read your sentence aloud to confirm it sounds natural and retains the original meaning.

Examples

• Passive: "The report was completed by the student before the deadline."
  Active: "The student completed the report before the deadline."
  Explanation: The agent "the student" becomes the subject, and the verb "was completed" changes to past simple "completed".

• Passive: "New guidelines are being implemented by the committee this week."
  Active: "The committee is implementing new guidelines this week."
  Explanation: Change present continuous passive "are being implemented" to active "is implementing", and move "the committee" to subject position.

• Passive: "A breakthrough will be announced by the research team tomorrow."
  Active: "The research team will announce a breakthrough tomorrow."
  Explanation: Future passive "will be announced" becomes "will announce" in active voice, preserving the future tense.

Why Active Voice Matters in IELTS

Using active voice enhances clarity and makes your arguments more direct. In IELTS Writing, clear sentence structures contribute to coherence and cohesion, two of the IELTS Writing Band Descriptors. By using active constructions, you demonstrate grammatical accuracy and flexibility, which can lead to higher scores.

In Speaking, incorporating active sentences helps you sound more natural and confident. Overusing passive voice can make responses sound formal and impersonal, which may affect your fluency and lexical resource scores. Balancing passive and active voice also showcases a strong command of English grammar.

Practice Question

Choose the best active voice transformation for the sentence below:

"The final decision has been approved by the committee."

A) The committee approves the final decision.
B) The committee has approved the final decision.
C) The final decision approved the committee.
D) The final decision has approved the committee.

Show Answer

Answer: B) The committee has approved the final decision.
Explanation: To convert the present perfect passive "has been approved," make "the committee" the subject and use the present perfect active form "has approved" to preserve the original meaning and tense.

Key Takeaways

• Transform passive sentences by identifying the agent, shifting it to the subject position, and adjusting verb forms.
• Active voice yields clearer and more concise expressions, boosting coherence and lexical resource scores in IELTS.
• Practice grammar correction with Lingo Copilot