The note
How schools teach it now
Active and passive are Year 6 terms. Active: the subject does the action (The dog chased the cat). Passive: the subject has the action done to it, using a form of 'be' plus a past participle (The cat was chased by the dog). The 'by' part is optional.
5-minute kitchen-table activity
Read a few news stories together and hunt for passive sentences ('The road was closed by police'). Your child turns each into the active ('Police closed the road'). Then ask why a reporter might use the passive: often because who did it is unknown or less important.
Worked example
Which sentence is in the passive voice? A: The children were painting the fence. B: The fence was painted by the children. C: The children painted the fence. D: The children have painted the fence.
- Ask: does the sentence start with the doer, or with the thing the action is done to?
- B starts with the fence, which has the action done to it; the doer comes after 'by'.
- A uses 'were', but the children are still doing the painting, so it is active.
Answer: B: The fence was painted by the children.
Common mistakes to watch for
- Thinking any sentence with 'was' or 'were' is passive ('was running' is active).
- Looking only for 'by'; a passive can leave out who did it.
- Changing the tense when turning an active sentence into a passive one.
Encouragement
- Try saying
- “Who is doing the action, and where are they in the sentence?”
- Rather than
- “Passive is too hard for you yet.”