I love my students enough to teach them the difference between passive voice and past tense.

Me (finishing lecture on active and passive verbs): Do I expect you to become experts overnight? Of course not.
Class: (starts to pack up)
Me: But there will be a quiz Wednesday.

• The subject of an active voice sentence performs the action of the verb:  “I throw the ball.”
• The subject of a passive voice sentence is still the main character of the sentence, but something else performs the action: “The ball is thrown by me.

Contents

1. How to Recognize Active and Passive Sentences
2. Basic Examples
3. Difference between Passive Voice and Past Tense
4. Imperatives: Active Commands
5. Sloppy Passive Construction
6. Linking Verbs: Neither Active nor Passive
7. Passive Voice is not Wrong
8. Tricky Examples
9. Links to Active & Passive Verb Resources
10. Works Cited