Which of the following sentences is NOT written using the passive voice?

Question

1. Peter had a car accident yesterday.
2. Mary was attacked yesterday.
3. Rice is grown in Vietnam.
4. The job will be completed by next week.

Answer 1

"Peter had a car accident yesterday" is NOT in the passive voice. That's because we're talking about Peter.

In the second sentence, the attack is happening TO Mary.

In the third sentence, people are growing the rice.

In the fourth sentence, someone is completing the job.

In the first sentence, you can't make Peter into the direct object. No one is performing an action upon Peter. If the sentence was "The car accident was had by Peter yesterday," THAT would be passive.

Answer 2

Sentence 1 is *not* written in the passive voice.

One indicator that each of the other sentences, respectively, is written in passive voice, is that none of the others identify the noun (in this case, the person) that the verb refers to. We don't know who attacked Mary. We don't know who will complete the job next week. We don't know who grows rice in Vietnam. We are, however, able to find out who had the car accident referenced in sentence 1.