Passive voice to active voice

Sentences written in the active voice are easier to understand than sentences written in the passive voice. Switching the passive voice into the active voice is straightforward, but it requires a bit of practice. In the equivalency table below, notice that the tense of the verb to be in the passive voice is always the same as the tense of the main verb in the active voice. In order to use the active voice, you will have to make the subject of the action explicit.

Test your knowledge

To keep, active and passive voice

Tense	Active voice	Passive voice	Active sentence	Passive equivalent
Simple present	keep	is kept	I keep the butter in the fridge.	The butter is kept in the fridge.
Present continuous	is keeping	is being kept	John is keeping my house tidy.	My house is being kept tidy.
Simple past	kept	was kept	Mary kept her schedule meticulously.	Mary's schedule was kept meticulously.
Past continuous	was keeping	was being kept	The theater was keeping a seat for you.	A seat was being kept for you.
Present perfect	have kept	have been kept	I have kept all your old letters.	All your old letters have been kept.
Past perfect	had kept	had been kept	He had kept up his training regimen for a month.	His training regimen had been kept up for a month.
Simple Future	will keep	will be kept	Mark will keep the ficus.	The ficus will be kept.
Conditional Present	would keep	would be kept	If you told me, I would keep your secret.	If you told me, your secret would be kept.
Conditional Past	would have kept	would have been kept	I would have kept your bicycle here if you had left it with me.	Your bicycle would have been kept here if you had left it with me.
Present Infinitive	to keep	to be kept	She wants to keep the book.	The book wants to be kept.
Perfect Infinitive	to have kept	to have been kept	Judy was happy to have kept the puppy.	The puppy was happy to have been kept.
Present Participle & Gerund	keeping	being kept	I have a feeling that you may be keeping a secret.	I have a feeling that a secret may be being kept.
Perfect Participle	having kept	having been kept	Having kept the bird in a cage for so long, Jade wasn't sure it could survive in the wild.	The bird, having been kept in a cage for so long, might not survive in the wild.