Identifying the active and passive voice
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can identify whether sentences are written in the active or passive voice.
Key learning points
- There are different tenses and ways of forming verbs in English.
- The subject of the clause does or is the verb in the active voice.
- The active voice makes it clear to the reader who is doing or being the verb in a clause.
- In the passive voice, the position of the subject and object changes.
- A clause in the passive voice contains two verbs: an auxiliary verb from the infinitive 'to be' and the past participle.
Keywords
Subject - the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that does or is the main verb in the active voice
Active voice - a spoken or written voice in which the subject does the verb in a sentence
Passive voice - a spoken or written voice in which the subject is acted upon by the verb
Object - the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that receives the action of the main verb in the active voice
Verb - a being, a doing or a having word
Common misconception
Pupils may believe any words after a verb are an object.
An object must be a noun, noun phrase or pronoun that the verb is done to directly.
Teacher tip
Encourage children to think about the different relationship between the subject and verb in the passive voice - often, the verb is being 'done to' as opposed to being 'done by' the subject. This is a subtle difference which will need explanation.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Place these sentences in order from least certain to happen to most certain to happen.
Q2.Match the types of modal verb to the correct modal verb examples.
will
might
should
Q3.Match the type of modal verb to the example.
We shall succeed by any means.
It may rain later.
You have to work harder.
Q4.Which of these speech sentences use a modal verb?
Q5.Which words in the following persuasive speech sentence are modal verbs? 'We have to play more aggressively, or we will lose this competition.'
Q6.Which modal verbs could come at the start of the following rhetorical question? '__________ this situation be allowed to continue?'
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which word in the following sentence is the subject? 'She gave the ball to me.'
Q2.Which word in this sentence is the object? 'Jun threw the ball to Laura.'
Q3.Select the sentences that have an object.
Q4.Which of these are true for the passive voice?
Q5.Select all the passive voice sentences.
Q6.Which is the correct passive voice version of the following active sentence? 'A loud noise broke the silence.'
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Identifying the active and passive voice, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 6 English lesson on: Identifying the active and passive voice, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the Three tense forms, modality, active voice and passive voice unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.