First of all: What is passive voice?

"In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the . . ." phrase or may be omitted."

What is active voice?

"In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts."

--http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html

Let me start with a few examples. For this first part, I will pair them up...one active, one passive. Try to figure out which is which before I tell you.

1. The dog bit me.
2. I was bitten by a dog.

Did you get it? The first one is active voice because the subject of the sentence "The dog" is doing the biting. The second sentence is passive because the subject of the sentence "I" is the one being bitten.

1. My husband left the dishwasher running.
2. The dishwasher was left running.

Got it? In the first example, we know who left the dishwasher runnning. It is clearly stated in the subject, making it an active sentence. In the second sentence, we never even find out who left the dishwasher running. Sometimes, in order to help determine if something is passive, you need to try to add something like "by him" and see if it still makes sense. In the first sentence, this addition would be ridiculous. In the second, it makes sense.

One of the things about passive sentences is that you don't even have to mention the performer of the action at all. This can ocassionally make passive voice usful, but it is best to stay away from it if you can.

Now, I'm going to make this more difficult. I'm going to give you sentence pairs that may or may not be a 50/50 split:

1. Megan did her homework.
2. Megan's homework was done.

Got it? Maybe you didn't, because this is a bit of a trick question. You should clearly identify the first as active, since Megan, the subject, performs the action. In the second sentence, however, you could add "by her" at the end to make it passive, but if you leave it the way it is the sentence is active. Why? Because the word "done" is actually an adjective, not a verb. The verb, the action, is "was" and it is the homework, the subject of the sentence, that achieves the state of being done. (I hope I didn't confuse you too much. I came upw tih it, nearly marked the second as passive, realized it wasn't, thought of taking it out, and then figured why not? You're all smart people and if you don't understand you can ask me more about it. )

1. The bell rang.
2. I rang the bell.

Got it? If you thought they were both active you were right. In the first sentence, the bell is doing the action of ringing. Yes, even inanimate objects can perform certain actions. If I said, "The bell was rung by me." it would be passive. In this case, it is a different connotation of the verb. Of course we don't mean that the bell sprouted arms, hit itself in the side, and thus began to ring. No, we mean that it made the sound, which it is perfectly capable of doing. The fact that we don't know who started the sound may or may not be a story problem, but it is not a passive voice problem. The second sentence is also active, because we are now using the other connocation of the verb "to ring." I didn't make the sound but I did perform an action that started the noise.

1. The dog was wounded.
2. The dog was whimpering.

This one is my "the verb to be does not always mean passive voice" example. Both of these are active voice, and in both sentences the action is a state of being. If the first, the dog is in the state of being wounded, and in the second, he is in the state of whimpering. Now, let's look at these similiar examples:

1. The dog was wounded by a stray bullet.
2. The dog was whimpering in pain.

Now, the first sentence is passive. Wounded has become the action as opposed to was. In the previous sentence, wounded was an adjective. The second remains active. I just added descriptive words that didn't really change a thing.

Ok......on to some homework.

I am going to give you a few sentences (I don't know how many yet because I haven't written them.) First, say if the sentence is active or passive. Then, if it is passive, rewrite it into an active sentence.

1. I hit my brother.
2. Sally was a star.
3. The phone rang.
4. The mail had already been brought in.
5. The cats were fed and hour ago.
6. I am sent to Canada twice a year on business.
7. The closet door is closed.
8. I need to get back to work.
9. This is an example of passive voice.
10. That was really mean of me.

1. Active
2. Active
3. Active
4. I already brought the mail in.
5. I fed the cats an hour ago.
6. Work sends me to Canada twice a year on business.
7. Active
8. Active
9. You gave an example of passive voice.
10. You are really mean.

9. This is an example of passive voice.

The action here is, well, is. It is a state of being an example of passive voice. This sentence is lying to you. What is performing a state of being an example of passive voice? Well, this. It may not be specific, but that's prnoun confusion, not active or passive voice.

10. That was really mean of me.

Once again, we have an action that is a state of being, in this case, a state of being mean. This sentence isn't saying that I'm a mean person, it's say that "that" was a mean thing for me to have done. Therefore, this is also an active voice sentence.

One thing to look out for...when you attempted to rewrite sentences that were already in active voice you ended up changing the meaning. "You gave me an example of passive voice." Is not the same thing as "This is an example of passive voice." It's an entirely different action. The same with the last sentence. "You are really mean." is not the same thing as "That was really mean of me."

1. Active
2. Active
3. Active
4. Passive; I already brought the mail in.
5. Passive; I fed the cats an hour ago.
6. Passive; They send me to Canada twice a year on business.
7. Active
8. Active
9. Active (you trickster, you!)
10. Active

Edit: Woohoo! I wasn't sure on that last one (9 didn't bug me--I play mind games like that with my sister all the time) but I squeaked it out anyway. Bwahaha. Maybe I haven't lost my touch after all!

Edit: Well, I flunked!

Remember, an active sentence can boild down to this:

[thing that performs action][action][object of action]

And never forget that an action can be a state of being. Really try to identify the action in each sentence. In fact, if you'd like another chance, here's one for you. I'll give you ten more sentences. In each, don't just say if it's active or passive. Identify the action, the performer of the action, and the object of the action. Sometimes these last two are not explicit. If I say "The phone was answered." we don't actually know who did the answering....but then there's your answer and you *know* it's passive voice.

So here it is:

For each of the following, list: a) the action; b) the performer of rhe action (if known); c) the object of the action (if known); d) active or passive voice; e) if the sentence is passive, rewrite it into active voice.

1. She answered the phone.
2. The cat keeps throwing up hairballs.
3. Everyday, the vomit is cleaned.
4. Codeine causes drowsiness.
5. I was made drowsy by the codeine.
6. My bed beckons me.
7. She was taught by the best.
8. He was arrested for murder.
9. I am being helped by my husband.
10. You are done with the homework.

i'm pretty sure of all but the last one... i think the last one is active, but i'm not really sure...

anyways tell me if i'm right

EDIT: err, i forgot to do the other part of this one XD oh well, just give me credit on what i did do teach :P

4 - The mail had already been brought in.
I brought the mail in.

6 - I am sent to Canada twice a year on business.
Twice a year I have to go to Canada on business.

10 - That was really mean of me.
Okay, I got this one wrong and I'm not sure why, because re-reading it, it is active.

1. She answered the phone. answered, she, phone, active

2. The cat keeps throwing up hairballs. throwing, cat, hairballs, active

3. Everyday, the vomit is cleaned.cleaned, unknown, vomit, passive, He cleans-up the vomit everyday.

4. Codeine causes drowsiness. causes, codeine, unknown, active

5. I was made drowsy by the codeine.made, codeine, me, passive, The codeine made me drowsy.

6. My bed beckons me. beckons, my bed, me, active

7. She was taught by the best.taught, the best, she, passive, Her teachers were the best.

8. He was arrested for murder. arrested, unknown, he, not sure - guessed active, but it's passive, The police arrested him for murder.

9. I am being helped by my husband. helped, husband, I, passive, My husband is helping me.

The thing is, it's opposite to active in a different way than how passive is opposite to active.

The confusion comes from the definition of "active." If you think of "active" as something that involves movement (action) then something just sitting there, being, is not active. "Sally was a star" means Sally isn't actually doing something, she's just being something. The opposite of that kind of "active" is "static" for "state of being." When the verb is a form of "to be" (was, were, is, are, am), the sentence may be "static" but it is not "passive."

The other definition of "active" applies to sentences with the subject being the actor who does whatever the verb of the sentence refers to. The subject "acts" according to the verb.

The dog bites.

The opposite of that kind of "active" is "passive" and it applies to sentences when the object of the verb becomes the subject of the sentence, or when the "actor" of the verb is not given.

The boy was bitten by the dog.

The boy was bitten.

Christine's quizzes deal with the second definition of "active."

"Abdul got promoted on his brother's birthday."

This is passive voice, since Abdul did not do the promoting. I assume his boss did, but for all I know he could be army and it could be his commanding officer.