Can you help me identify the passive voice verbs and active voice verbs in these sentences?

  1. The tiny kitten wandered into the living room.
  2. That test is taken by many high school seniors.
  3. The dog dug a hole in the yard to bury its bone.
  4. Carol wrote a thank-you note to her grandmother.
  5. The black car was polished to a velvety sheen.
  6. Identify the sentence that is written in passive voice.
  7. The photographs had been taken by a friend of my grandfather's.
  8. Wispy clouds floated in a clear blue sky.
  9. Rust had ruined the little red wagon.
  10. A siren cut the night's silence.?

1 Answer
May 17, 2016

(see below)

Explanation:

#color(red)("Active voice verbs in red.")#
#color(blue)("Passive voice verbs in blue.")#

  1. The tiny kitten #color(red)("wandered")# into the living room.

  2. That test #color(blue)("is taken")# by many high school seniors.

  3. The dog #color(red)("dug")# a hole in the yard to bury its bone.

  4. Carol #color(red)("wrote")# a thank-you note to her grandmother.

  5. The black car #color(blue)("was polished")# to a velvety sheen.

  6. #color(red)("Identify")# the sentence that #color(blue)("is written")# in passive voice.

  7. The photographs #color(blue)("had been taken")# by a friend of my grandfather's.

  8. Wispy clouds#color(red)(" floated")# in a clear blue sky.

  9. Rust #color(red)("had ruined")# the little red wagon.

  10. A siren #color(red)("cut")# the night's silence.?

Of these 6. is the trickiest. It has an implied subject of "You" and "You" are the one doing the "identify" verb action;

furthermore it contains a clause where the subject of the clause, "that" which is the thing that "is written" and not the thing doing the writing.