Grammatical Voice

Grammatical voice is a feature of verbs that describes the relationship between the action of the verb and the participants identified by the verb’s subject and object.

In simpler terms, it indicates who is doing the action and who is receiving it. Understanding and using different grammatical voices allows speakers to shift the focus of a sentence from the doer of the action to the receiver of the action.

There are primarily two types of grammatical voice:

1. Active voice: This is where the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. For example, in the sentence “The cat chased the mouse,” “the cat” is the subject that is doing the chasing, so the sentence is in the active voice.
2. Passive voice: In the passive voice, the focus shifts from the doer to the receiver of the action. The subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action. For example, in the sentence “The mouse was chased by the cat,” “the mouse” is the subject, but it isn’t doing anything; instead, it is receiving the action of being chased.

Grammatical voice can also include less common types such as the middle voice, where the subject both performs and experiences the action, though this is not distinctively marked in English.

The use of different voices allows for variety and nuance in expression, enabling speakers to emphasize different parts of their message depending on their communicative goals.