Change of Voice Exercise 16

Change of Voice in Sentences

• Changing voice refers to converting sentences from active to passive or vice versa, altering the emphasis of the action.
• Active voice: Subject performs the action (e.g., "My father teaches me Arabic").
• Passive voice: Subject receives the action (e.g., "Arabic is taught to me by my father").

Important Examples

• "We think you to be a gentleman" can be altered to "You are thought to be a gentleman by us."
• Questions like "When will you return my book?" ask for information, and can shift to passive as "When will my book be returned by you?"
• Instructional sentences like "Choose the best answer" might change to "The best answer should be chosen."

Commands and Requests

• Imperative sentences like "Let him do the work sincerely" transform to "The work should be done sincerely by him."
• Requests like "Take care of your mother" can be expressed as "Your mother should be taken care of."

Interrogative Sentences

• Questions such as "Why did you break the television?" can be changed into passive voice: "Why was the television broken by you?"

Indirect Questions

• Interactions with clear subjects, like "Who was blowing the pipe?" can change to "By whom was the pipe being blown?"

Specific Situational Contexts

• Direct commands like "Don't touch me" can translate to "I should not be touched."
• Situations expressing necessity, like "How much money do you want?" can adjust to "How much money is wanted by you?"

Structural Variations

• Sending and receiving actions: "My aunt sent me a pen" can become "A pen was sent to me by my aunt."
• The nature of the action: "He helps himself" can shift to "He is helped by himself," emphasizing the action's reflection on the subject.

Descriptive Changes

• Actions that relate to feelings or sensations, such as "The foam feels soft," can change to "Softness is felt by the foam."
• In sentences that convey knowledge or familiarity, "The man knew me" shifts to "I was known by the man."

Educational Context

• Commands or descriptions that direct attention can include "Correct the sentence," transitioning to "The sentence should be corrected."
• Collective or generalized statements like "One should love one's native land" may change to "One's native land should be loved."

Summary

• Transforming voice impacts clarity, focus, and the audience's understanding of the subject-action relationship.
• Mastery of voice change enhances grammatical skills and comprehension of sentence structure across language use.

Test your skills in changing the voice of sentences with this quiz. This exercise includes a mix of questions requiring transformations from active to passive voice and vice versa. Sharpen your understanding of sentence structure with these engaging challenges!