The verb in a sentence may be in active or passive voice.

Active voice - indicates that the subject is doing the action.

Example: The baseball hit the batter.

Passive voice - indicates that the subject of the verb is being acted upon.  A passive verb is formed by a combination of a form of the verb, to be, and a past participle.

Example: The batter was hit by the baseball.

You can determine the voice of the verb by asking what or whom after the verb.  in the first example: The baseball hit the batter.  Hit whom?  The batter.  Note that the action goes to the right to the direct object, batter.  Thus that sentence is in active voice.

In the second example: The batter was hit by the baseball (or just: The batter was hit).  When you ask: who was hit?  The action goes back to the subject, batter, so that verb is in passive voice.

Directions: Write down the verb in the following sentences and beside it, write the voice of the verb, active or passive.

1. Tony makes dinner every night.
2. A large fish was caught by Robin.
3. The teacher was called to the office.
4. Copy the math problems on your paper.
5. The webs were carefully spun by the spider.
6. The test is being handed out to the students.
7. Morgan smacked the ball out of the park.
8. The gymnast started her floor exercise.
9. The flowers were watered every other day.
10. Was the shelf built next to the fireplace?

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