Question

I can determine whether a verb is active or passive by

Answer 1

looking at the sentence structure and the use of helping verbs.

In an active voice sentence, the subject of the sentence performs the action described by the verb. The structure of an active sentence is typically Subject + Verb + Object. For example: "She eats an apple." Here, "She" is the subject, "eats" is the verb, and "an apple" is the object.

In a passive voice sentence, the subject of the sentence receives the action described by the verb. The structure of a passive sentence is typically Object + Verb + Subject. Additionally, passive sentences often make use of the helping verb "be" followed by the past participle of a verb. For example: "The apple is eaten by her." Here, "The apple" is the object, "is eaten" is the verb phrase, and "by her" clarifies who performs the action.

So, by examining the structure of the sentence and identifying the use of helping verbs such as "be," we can determine whether a verb is active or passive.