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English · Year 6

Active and passive voice explained for parents

By Dave Allen · Updated · 5 min read

Drafted and fact-checked with AI help, against the sources below. Not yet reviewed by a teacher. How we write our guides

What it is

Subject
Usually the person or thing doing the action, which normally comes just before the verb. In "Our dog ate it", the subject is our dog.
Object
The person or thing the verb is done to, normally just after the verb. In "Our dog ate it", the object is it.
Active
The usual pattern: the subject does the action to the object. "Our dog ate it."
Passive
The same event turned round: the thing the action was done to becomes the subject. "It was eaten by our dog."

Both sentences describe the same event. The difference is what comes first, and so what the reader notices first. That's why the curriculum talks about using the passive to change how information is presented in a sentence.

A passive sentence has three tell-tale signs. It uses a form of the verb be (is, was, were, has been) or sometimes get. The main verb is in a form like eaten, broken or arranged. And the one who did the action, if it's mentioned at all, comes after the word by.

  • Active: I broke the window in the greenhouse.
  • Passive: The window in the greenhouse was broken by me.
  • Passive, with the by part left out: The window in the greenhouse was broken.

That last one is the passive's real superpower: it lets you leave out who did it. That's useful when who did it isn't important, or isn't known.

How it's taught at school

The passive is Year 6 grammar in the national curriculum for England. The grammar appendix lists "use of the passive to affect the presentation of information in a sentence" for Year 6, and Year 6 is when children are expected to learn the terms subject, object, active and passive.

The appendix's own example is the greenhouse window above. A good way to get the hang of it is to turn active sentences into passive ones and back again, using these steps:

  1. Find the object of the active sentence: in "The school arranged a visit", it's a visit.
  2. Move it to the front to be the new subject: A visit…
  3. Add a form of be and change the verb: A visit was arranged…
  4. If you want to say who did it, add by and the old subject: A visit was arranged by the school.

The passive is handy when what happened matters more than who did it, such as in a report: "The results were recorded in a table." When who did it matters, the active voice is usually clearer.

Tip
A quick check for your child: can you add "by someone" to the end? "The cake was eaten by someone" works, so it's passive. "The cake was delicious by someone" doesn't, so it isn't.

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Common mistakes (and how to help)

Thinking every sentence in the past tense is passive
"We had an accident" and "The bus arrived late" are both past tense but active: the subject did something. Ask your child: is the subject doing the action, or having it done to them?
Thinking the word by always means passive
In "She sat by the window", by means next to, and the sentence is active. Look for a form of be plus a verb like eaten or broken first, then check the by part.
Thinking a sentence is passive because something happens to the subject
"He received a warning" sounds as if something was done to him, but grammatically it's active: he is doing the receiving. A sentence is only passive if it's the turned-round version of an active one.
Thinking the passive is wrong or bad style
Both voices are correct. The curriculum asks children to use the passive to change how information is presented, so it's a choice, not a mistake. Talk about which one puts the important part first.

Three quick activities at home

Turn it round

About 5 minutes

  1. Say an active sentence about your home, such as "The cat knocked over the plant."
  2. Ask your child to turn it into a passive sentence: "The plant was knocked over by the cat."
  3. Then ask them to say it again without the by part. Who's been let off the hook?

Mystery culprit

About 5 minutes · You need: Nothing: this works well at the tea table

  1. Take turns to describe something that has happened at home in the passive, leaving out who did it: "The biscuits have been eaten."
  2. The others guess who did it, answering in an active sentence: "Grandad ate the biscuits!"
  3. Point out how the passive kept the culprit secret.

Headline hunt

About 10 minutes · You need: A newspaper, a leaflet or a non-fiction book

  1. Look together for sentences with was, were or has been followed by a verb, such as "The bridge was opened in 1990."
  2. For each one, ask your child whether it's passive, and who did the action.
  3. Talk about why the writer might have left out who did it.

Try it with your child

Free Pipkin puzzles on this topic. No sign-up. They open on the children's side of Pipkin.

Questions parents ask

Do children have to write in the passive?

They're taught to use it, and to choose when it helps. The curriculum frames it as one tool for changing how information is presented, alongside the active voice.

Will the passive be in the Year 6 SATs?

The active and passive voice are part of the content the KS2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test can cover. See our guide to the KS2 SATs grammar test for what the test involves.

I wasn't taught this. Where do I start?

Many parents weren't. Start with one question: is the subject doing the action, or having it done to them? That one idea is most of what your child needs.

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Related guides

Sources

  1. Department for Education: English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
  2. Department for Education: English glossary (national curriculum)
  3. Department for Education: National curriculum in England: English programmes of study
  4. Standards and Testing Agency: Key stage 2: English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework
  5. BBC Bitesize: What are the active and passive voice?