Voice (grammar)

Grammatical features
Related to nouns Animacy Case Dative construction Dative shift Quirky subject Classifier Measure word Construct state Countability Count noun Mass noun Collective noun Definiteness Gender Natural gender Genitive construction Possession Suffixaufnahme (case stacking) Noun class Number Singular Dual Plural Singulative-Collective-Plurative Specificity Universal grinder
Related to verbs Associated motion Clusivity Conjugation Evidentiality Modality Person Telicity Tense–aspect–mood Grammatical aspect Lexical aspect (Aktionsart) Mood Tense Voice
General features Affect Boundedness Comparison (degree) Pluractionality (verbal number) Honorifics (politeness) Polarity Reciprocity Reflexive pronoun Reflexive verb
Syntax relationships Argument Transitivity Valency Branching Serial verb construction Traditional grammar Predicate Subject Object Adjunct Predicative
Semantics Contrast Mirativity Thematic relation Agent Patient Topic and Comment Focus Volition Veridicality
Phenomena Agreement Polypersonal agreement Declension Empty category Incorporation Inflection Markedness

Voice in grammar expresses the way the action (or state) that the verb expresses relates to the subject or object.

In English grammar, there are two voices: active and passive. When a clause is in the active voice, the subject is the doer of the action. When a clause is in the passive voice, the subject is the receiver of the action. The active voice is much more commonly used than the passive voice.

• Active voice: Jane chose the furniture.
• Passive voice: The furniture was chosen by Jane.

This example shows how the word order changes the emphasis of the sentence. The first clearly answers the question "Who chose the furniture?" The second is more of an incidental comment.

The active voice is usually easier to say, and easier to understand than the passive voice. When a person learns a language, it is learnt first, and uses fewer words than the passive voice. Therefore, given an equal choice, the active voice is usually chosen.

Voice (grammar) Media

• Mandarin active sentence a)

• Mandarin active sentence b)

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  Syntax tree of Mandarin Notional

• Mandarin negative notional passive

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  Syntax tree of Mandarin formal

• Mandarin lexcial.png

  Syntax tree of Mandarin Lecixal

• Active voice tree 1.1.png

  Active Voice SOV tree

• Active voice tree 2.1.png

  Active voice OSV tree

• Direct passive tree 1.1png.png

  Direct passive voice phrase structure tree

• Indirect possessive passive v2.png

  Indirect possessive passive phrase structure tree