Year 6 - English
Identifying the active and passive voice
Three tense forms, modality, active voice and passive voice
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils review the simple, progressive and perfect present tenses as well as modal verbs for use in persuasive writing and speech sentences. They learn the rules for the perfect past and future tenses for the first time as well as learning about the active and passive voice.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to identify whether sentences are written in the active or passive voice.
Key Notes
- There are different tenses and ways of forming verbs in English.
- The subject of the clause does or is the verb in the active voice.
- The active voice makes it clear to the reader who is doing or being the verb in a clause.
- In the passive voice, the position of the subject and object changes.
- A clause in the passive voice contains two verbs: an auxiliary verb from the infinitive 'to be' and the past participle.
Vocabulary To Learn
- subject: the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that does or is the main verb in the active voice
- active voice: a spoken or written voice in which the subject does the verb in a sentence
- passive voice: a spoken or written voice in which the subject is acted upon by the verb
- object: the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that receives the action of the main verb in the active voice
- verb: a being, a doing or a having word
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Pupils may believe any words after a verb are an object.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
There are different tenses and ways of forming verbs in English. The subject of the clause does or is the verb in the active voice.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'subject'
the noun, noun phrase or pronoun that does or is the main verb in the active voice.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Pupils may believe any words after a verb are an object. Correction: An object must be a noun, noun phrase or pronoun that the verb is done to directly.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 6 English guide library.