‘active’ vs ‘passive’

Question

Which one below is used in the ‘active voice’, and which one is used in the ‘passive voice’—and why?

1. Arrested on charges of grand larceny were Mike Smith, Joe Blow and Jane Doe.

2. Mike Smith, Joe Blow and Jane Doe were arrested on charges of grand larceny.

Thank you.

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

The verb arrested is passive in both sentences because Mike Smith, Joe Blow, and Jane Doe function as subjects, whereas in an active construction they would function as direct objects: The police arrested Mike Smith, Joe Blow, and Jane Doe…

Victo · Answer

Yup. I can now see the forest through the trees. The ‘A does B' and ‘B is done by A’ rule certainly holds true here.

Thank you, AG.

Henry74 · Answer

They are both in the passive.
You don't turn passive into active by just moving the subject to the end. That only makes it sound like something out of a poem.
What you do is, you invert the roles of the elements in the sentence.

- Mike, Joe and Jane were arrested [by the police] on charges of grand larceny.

That is the passive version:

Mike, Jo and Jane is the subject
were arrested is in the passive
by the police is not mentioned in the text, but you need to make it explicit* it if you want to turn it into active because:

the police will become the subject of the active sentence
were arrested will turn into its active couterpart arrested
Mike, Jo and Jane will become the object

The police arrested Mike, Jo and Jane on charges of grand larceny.
which is the active version.

*The text doesn't say who carried out the arrest. I used the police as an example. If you don't know who it was, you'll still need a subject if you want to make an active sentence.

[EDIT: Sorry, I was typing my long reply. I didn't see it had already been covered.]

H.

Victo · Answer

Thank you very much, Henry74.

‘active’ vs ‘passive’

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