Active to Passive

Overview

Today students will practise identifying and using active and passive voice, and rewriting sentences using participles and phrases to elaborate meaning. The lesson builds clarity by keeping verb tense consistent while changing voice and sentence structure.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• explain the difference between active and passive voice and how it changes sentence focus
• identify participles and participle phrases, and explain how they add detail
• rewrite sentences in active and passive voice while maintaining consistent verb tense
• use participles/phrases to combine ideas with clarity and precision

Success criteria

I can…

• label parts of a sentence to show the main verb and whether it is active or passive
• rewrite an active sentence into a passive sentence without changing the meaning
• use a participle or participle phrase correctly (e.g., describing an action/state) to add extra detail
• check my work for consistent tense across the sentence/verb group

Curriculum links

• AC9E7LA06 — consistency of tense through verbs and verb groups for clarity in sentences
• AC9E7LA05 — complex and compound-complex sentences to elaborate and explain ideas
• AC9E7LY03 — language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose (focus on clarity and precision of sentence meaning)

Lesson structure (50 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Warm-up (Quiz + discussion). Teacher displays and reads 4 quick sentence pairs from the Active/Passive + participle mini-deck and students vote on “Active/Passive” and “Tense stays the same/changes.” Students hold up whiteboards (or fingers) for answers, then justify one vote using one sentence stem: “I chose this because…”

2. 5–13 min · Teach (Active vs passive + participle/phrase). Teacher pauses on the slide visuals to model:

• Active: “The committee approved the plan.”
• Passive: “The plan was approved by the committee.”
• Participles/phrases: “Approving the plan, the committee…” / “The plan, approved yesterday,…” Students take brief notes titled “Voice switch rules” and “Tense check rule” during teacher modelling.

3. 13–25 min · Guided practice (Sort + correct). Teacher hands out the Active/Passive + participle sentence worksheet and projects the example for the first two questions. Students complete Part A: sort 8 sentences into three categories (Active, Passive, Participles/Phrases) and highlight the main verb group using a highlighter.

4. 25–34 min · Teacher feedback + micro-challenge (Tense consistency). Teacher circulates briefly, then selects 3 common student answers and discusses what went wrong (often tense shifting). Students do Part B: rewrite 3 active sentences into passive, then underline the verb group and add a one-line tense-check comment.

5. 34–44 min · Assorted tasks (Team rewriting rounds). Teacher groups students into pairs/trios; prompts are shown on the Active/Passive + participle mini-deck (Round 1 and Round 2). Students complete Part C:

• Round 1: combine two related ideas using a participle phrase without creating a tense jump
• Round 2: rewrite again in passive if the meaning focus needs changing (choose the better version)

6. 44–50 min · Exit reflection (Assess understanding). Teacher displays the final prompt on the Active/Passive + participle mini-deck: “Rewrite one sentence in passive and add one participle phrase—then tell how you kept tense consistent.” Students complete the exit response on the back of the Active/Passive + participle sentence worksheet (or a half-page lined page).

Resources

• the Active/Passive + participle mini-deck
• the Active/Passive + participle sentence worksheet
• Whiteboards or small cards for warm-up voting
• Highlighters (2 colours: verbs + voice indicators)
• Pens/pencils
• Timer for rounds
• Optional: sentence stem strip on the board (“I know it’s passive because…” / “The tense stayed consistent because…”)

Assessment

• Formative during warm-up: quick vote + one justification checks voice identification and tense awareness
• Formative during guided practice: teacher checks underlined verb groups and tense-check comments
• Summative-in-class exit reflection: sentence rewritten into passive + participle phrase + explanation of tense consistency (teacher marks against success criteria)

Differentiation

• Support (scaffolds): provide a “Tense check” checklist on the board (underlined verb group; same time reference; matching auxiliaries like was/were/has/have) and offer sentence starters: “The action was…”, “___ was + past participle…”, “Using ___, …”
• Support for dyslexia-friendly reading: teacher reads aloud the instructions on the worksheet; students use a ruler to track lines; allow oral rehearsal before writing (students whisper their rewritten sentence to a partner first)
• Extension (advanced learners): add a final line requiring an audience/purpose choice: “Which version is clearer for a formal report audience—active or passive? Justify in 1–2 sentences using evidence from the sentence structure.”
• Need extra challenge/precision: ask students to locate the “doer” in passive (agent) and decide whether to include or omit it for clarity; require at least one participle phrase that starts the sentence.