Active Sentence: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what an active sentence is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on active voice, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is an active sentence?

According to Towson, active sentences, also known as active voice verbs, are sentences in which the subject of a sentence is the doer of the action rather than the recipient of the action, so they are said to be in the active voice. Passive sentence examples,on the other hand, are sentences in which the subject of the sentence is acted upon by the verb. Passive voice English sentences and can be difficult to read because the sentence subject may not be a clear subject. Passive forms make for wordy sentences. Active sentences can be declarative sentences or a complex sentence. Sentences should feature the action of the sentence and be an active voice sentence, avoiding passive verbs in English grammar.

What are active sentence examples?

Active voice can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or grammatical technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of active voices that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at these active voice examples from Sentence Dict, Your Dictionary and EF and see how many you can identify the active voice in!

  •  The owl garnered special attention.
  • She was active in local politics for many years.
  •  I must memorize the formula for the quiz.
  •  She is an active girl.
  •  The saltwater corroded the metal beams.
  •  She was an active trade unionist and had been elected a shop steward.
  •  I ran the obstacle course in record time.
  •  The cleaning crew vacuums and dusts the office every night.
  •  Before our modern age, people had a more physical and active lifestyle.
  •  I am having lunch with a friend today.
  •  In April 1944 he was killed on active service.
  •  Harry ate six shrimp at dinner.
  •  A few well-chosen words convey a great deal of meaning.
  •  You’ve got to try to keep active as you grow older.
  •  Larry generously donated money to the homeless shelter.
  •  Try to keep active in the cold weather.
  •  The Church and the laity were increasingly active in charity work.
  •  In spite of his age, he still leads an active life.
  •  The company requires staff to watch a safety video every year.
  •  His daughter was very active and noisy in the mornings.
  •  Powell was declared unfit for active service.
  •  The only active ingredient in this medicine is aspirin.
  •  I will clean the house every Saturday.
  •  He was active in organizing student meetings.
  •  Positive active mind essential.
  •  The teacher always answers the students’ questions.
  •  She’s over 80, but is still very active.
  •  The crew paved the entire stretch of highway.
  •  The director will give you instructions.
  •  The city disposes of waste materials in a variety of ways.
  •  I am planting some cacti in my desert garden.
  •  Scientists have discovered that most of the active volcanoes in the world are located in a T-shaped area.
  •  Women were becoming more politically active.
  •  The kangaroo carried her baby in her pouch.
  •  My father built this house.
  •  Mom read the novel in one day.
  •  Like inquiry can be active thinking, like exercise can improve physique, like mountain forest can recover one’s original simplicity, love alone can study hard, like wind builds muscles.
  •  The Beatles wrote “A Hard Day’s Night”.
  •  Active long will be very tired, care about for a long time will crash!
  •  She was active in the Society for Women’s Suffrage.
  •  Generally speaking, boys like active sports more than girls do.
  •  A mass of gases wrap around our planet.

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  • modify | modifier
  •  genitive
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  objective
  •  subordinate clause
  •  vocative
  •  adjective
  •  filler
  •  proper noun | proper name
  •  that-clause
  •  direct question
  •  dual
  •  appositive
  •  relative
  •  complementary
  •  intransitive
  •  nominative
  •  masculine
  •  definite article
  •  main verb
  •  perfect
  •  noun phrase
  •  non-referential
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  bare infinitive
  •  part of speech
  •  subjunctive
  •  predicative
  •  dative
  •  exclamation mark
  •  present tense
  •  indirect speech
  •  possessive adjective
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  conditional
  •  prepositional object
  •  mass noun
  •  protasis
  •  collective noun
  •  superlative
  •  plural
  •  interrogative
  •  positive
  •  to-infinitive
  •  cataphoric
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  feminine
  •  head
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  causative
  •  phrasal verb
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  verb (v.)
  •  indirect question
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  agent noun
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  direct object
  •  past tense
  •  special use
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  locative
  •  declarative
  •  participial adjective
  •  first person
  •  count noun
  •  infinitive
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  number
  •  base form
  •  subject
  •  attributive
  •  comparative
  •  abstract
  •  indirect object
  •  main clause
  •  present participle
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  simple
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  transitive
  •  compound | compounding
  •  non-finite
  •  cognate object
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  zero
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •  stem
  •  passive
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  instrumental
  •  past participle
  •  mood
  •  indirect passive
  •  personal pronoun
  •  subjective
  •  person
  •  combination
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  gender
  •  similative
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  verbal noun
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  neuter
  •  intensifier
  •  finite
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  parasynthetic
  •  indicative
  •  singular
  •  agree | agreement
  •  case
  •  determiner
  •  complement
  •  double object
  •  possessive
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  third-person
  •  passive infinitive
  •  accusative
  •  apposition
  •  prefix
  •  indefinite
  •  quasi-
  •  reflexive
  •  element
  •  common noun
  •  anaphoric
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  noun (n.)
  •  optative
  •  interjection
  •  active
  •   antecedent
  •  morpheme
  •  article
  •  anticipatory
  •  concrete
  •  pro-form
  •  gerund
  •  construction
  •  clause
  •  demonstrative
  •  prepositional passive
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  tense
  •  direct speech
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  nominal relative | nominal relative clause
  •  second person
  •  progressive
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary

Overall, active voice is a verb form in which the subject performs the action of the verb.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  2. Passive voice | EF 
  3. Examples of Active and Passive Voice | Your Dictionary 
  4. Voice: Active and Passive | Towson 
  5. Active in a sentence (esp. good sentence like quote, proverb…) | Sentence DictÂ