Learn English – What’s the difference between “ask” and “be asked”

past-tensepresent-tenseverbs

I saw this sentence:

This could be asked on Web Applications.

I thought i can replace this sentence with following sentence:

You could ask this on Web Applications.

but they may have differences. What's the difference between "ask" and "be asked"?

Best Answer

A simple answer:

I ask you a question. [active voice]
You are asked a question by me. [passive voice]

That is the difference.

This could be asked [by you] on Web Applications.
You could ask this on Web Applications.

Unless it is necessary to the meaning, try to use active voice rather than passive voice.

The boys ate the apples.
The apples were eaten by the boys.

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