Voice and Narration: Quick Rules
Voice and Narration: Quick Rules
Voice and narration together give one or two questions in the qualifying paper, and both are pure rule-following. Nothing has to be judged — the change is mechanical. Learning the change table once is enough, and this topic closes the English grammar half of Part-I.
Active and Passive Voice
In the active voice the subject does the action; in the passive voice the subject receives it. Ram writes a letter is active; A letter is written by Ram is passive.
- The object becomes the subject of the new sentence.
- The verb changes to the correct form of be plus the past participle.
- The old subject comes at the end with by.
- Pronouns change form — I becomes me, he becomes him.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | He writes a letter | A letter is written by him |
| Present continuous | He is writing a letter | A letter is being written by him |
| Simple past | He wrote a letter | A letter was written by him |
| Present perfect | He has written a letter | A letter has been written by him |
| Future | He will write a letter | A letter will be written by him |
Only a transitive verb — one that has an object — can be made passive. He laughed has no object, so it has no passive form. That point is asked directly.
✗ He slept can be changed into the passive voice | ✓ Sleep is intransitive and has no object, so no passive form exists
Narration
Direct speech gives the exact words in inverted commas; indirect speech reports them. Three things change: the reporting verb, the tense and the pronouns and time words.
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| said to | told |
| now | then |
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day |
| yesterday | the previous day |
| here | there |
| this | that |
The tense moves one step back when the reporting verb is in the past — present becomes past, past becomes past perfect. He said, I am ill becomes He said that he was ill.
One exception matters. If the reported words are a universal truth, the tense does not change — The teacher said that the earth is round, not was round.
याद रखिए: reporting verb past में हो तो tense एक कदम पीछे जाता है, पर शाश्वत सत्य नहीं बदलता।
TRE pointer: In voice, remember that only transitive verbs have a passive form and learn the be plus past participle pattern by tense. In narration, the time-word table and the one step back rule answer nearly everything, with one exception to hold: a universal truth keeps its tense. Both topics are mechanical, so they are safe marks in a qualifying paper.
60-Second Recap
- In the passive voice the object becomes the subject and by carries the doer.
- The passive uses the correct form of be plus the past participle.
- Only transitive verbs, which have an object, can be made passive.
- In indirect speech said to becomes told and the tense moves one step back.
- Now becomes then, today becomes that day, here becomes there.
- A universal truth does not change its tense in indirect speech.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which sentences cannot be changed into the passive voice?
Those with intransitive verbs, which take no object. He laughed, she slept and they arrived have nothing to move into the subject position, so no passive form exists. Only transitive verbs, which have an object, can be made passive.
How does the tense change in indirect speech?
It moves one step back when the reporting verb is in the past. Present becomes past, present continuous becomes past continuous, and simple past becomes past perfect. He said, I am ill becomes he said that he was ill.
Does the tense always change in narration?
No. If the reported words state a universal truth or a habitual fact, the tense stays as it is. The teacher said that the earth is round keeps the present tense, because the fact remains true regardless of when it was said. This exception is asked often.
What is the basic pattern of the passive voice?
The correct form of the verb be, matching the original tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. He writes becomes is written, he is writing becomes is being written, and he has written becomes has been written.
Next step: Part-I only has to be cleared, but it must be cleared. Test this chapter in the BPSC TRE 4.0 mock test on ExamAtlas — five options, −1/3 negative marking, qualifying-paper level.