Learn English – Changing “The money was stolen” into active voice

active-voicepassive-voice

I have the following passive clause:

The money was stolen.

Is there any transformation of it into active voice? Or it will remain like this?

Best Answer

There are two types of passive clause:

  1. Short passive

    The money was stolen.

  2. Long passive

    The money was stolen by a short man wearing six jackets.

Most passives are short. They don't contain by-phrases.

Only long passives have corresponding active clauses:

  1. Short passive

    Passive: The money was stolen.
    Active:　*Stole the money.　

    The active clause is ungrammatical. It needs a subject, but it doesn't have one.

  2. Long passive

    Passive: The money was stolen by a short man wearing six jackets.
    Active:　A short man wearing six jackets stole the money.

    This active clause is fine. It needs a subject, and it has one.

Your example is a short passive, so it has no direct active clause equivalent. If you want to make it into an active clause, you'll need to add a by-phrase, turning it into a long passive.

You'll have to rely on context to figure out what by-phrase works in your clause, if any.

In this answer, the * symbol marks a sentence as ungrammatical. For more information about passives, see A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (2005), chapter 15.

Related Topic