[Grammar] Active/Passive voice

Hi there!

I would need help some help in order to understand better this principle of active/passive.

Here is the sentence that I struggle with :

You must keep dogs on a leash at all times.

And here is my try :

On a leash you must keep dogs at all times.

For those who wonder what's the active and passive voice, it's a way to emphasize the action by swapping the object of an action with the subject, ex :

Active voice : Sandra uses a computer Passive Voice : A computer is used by Sandra

Thanks in advance!

Dogs must be kept on a leash (or leashes) at all times.

I thought of that, but for some reason I really wanted to include it was ' him ' who had to keep dogs on a leash.

Any tips on how to change an active to a passive?

Thanks !

I am not a teacher.

In that case you should say, "Dogs must be kept on a leash by him at all times."

The tip is to do exactly what you quoted in your first post, that is, "swapping the object of an action with the subject..."

"You must keep dogs(object)..."
"Dogs(subject) must be kept..."

HugoJ said:

I thought of that, but for some reason I really wanted to include it was ' him ' who had to keep dogs on a leash.

Any tips on how to change an active to a passive?

Thanks !

Click to expand...

Hugo, if it's important to say who is keeping the dogs on the leash, then don't use the passive.

Use the passive if you don't know who does/did it, or if it doesn't matter, or if you don't want to say who.

It's generally worse style (and much more awkward phrasing) to write in the passive if the agent will be included. An exception is when the object of the action is far more important than the agent, as in "Kendra has been hit by a car!" (We care about Kendra, not the car.)

No native speaker would spontaneosly say "Dogs must be kept on a leash by him."