1. Verb Voice
Grammar Unit 7 Lesson 8

2. Verb Voice Action verbs can be in the active or the passive voice.
Active voice is when the subject of the sentence performs the action.
Ex. The brown bear caught a salmon.
Passive voice is when the action is performed ON the subject.
Ex. A salmon was caught by the brown bear.

3. Verb Voice
Active voice is considered stronger, but there are times when you might want to use the passive voice.
Ex. All the costumes were ruined. (You may not want to identify the culprit.)
Ex. The bank was robbed. (You may not know who the culprit is.)
You form the passive voice by using a form of the auxiliary verb to be with the past participle of the action verb.

4. Exercise
Identify the verb or verb phrases as active voice or passive voice.
Bulls cannot see color.
Enough debris was sent into the air by the eruption of the volcano to block the sun.
The human eye can see stars that are trillions of miles away.
UFOs were first called “flying saucers” by an airplane pilot in 1947.
Sierra Leone’s farmers grow a wide variety of crops.
I was bitten by the cute little dog.
The same place can be struck by lightning many times.
The explosion shattered windows all over town.