Examples of active and passive verbs in each verb tense

• Simple Present
  • Active: Amazon ships books around the world.
  • Passive: Books are shipped around the world.
• Present Progressive (or Continuous)
  • Active: The cover artist is designing the book cover.
  • Passive: The book cover is being designed.
• Simple Past
  • Active: The writer finished the book yesterday.
  • Passive: The book was finished yesterday.
• Past Progressive (or Continuous)
  • Active: The author was making a release date announcement.
  • Passive: A release date announcement was being made.
• Future
  • Active: Amazon will ship paperback books to readers.
  • Passive: Paperback backs will be shipped to readers.
• Present Perfect
  • Active: Readers have purchased the books from the author.
  • Passive: The books have been purchased from the author.
• Past Perfect
  • Active: The author had shown readers teasers for the new book for two months.
  • Passive: The readers had been shown teasers for the new book for two months.
• Future Perfect
  • Active: By next month, the author will have sold 5,000 copies of his new book.
  • Passive: By next month, 5,000 copies of his new book will have been sold.
• Modals
  • Active: Readers can read this book for free on Kindle Unlimited.
  • Passive: This book can be read for free on Kindle Unlimited.

To learn more about passive voice, check out this article: Passive Voice: Myth vs. Fact

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