As a linguistic expert with a deep understanding of English grammar, I am well-versed in the nuances of active and passive voice usage. The passive voice is a grammatical construction where the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action, rather than the doer of the action. It is often used when the doer of the action is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately omitted.

To identify a passive voice sentence, there are several key indicators:

1. **Presence of a form of the verb "to be"**: Passive voice sentences typically include a form of the verb "to be" (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) followed by the past participle of the main verb.


2. Emphasis on the receiver of the action: In passive voice, the focus is on the entity that is acted upon, rather than the one performing the action.


3. Absence of the doer: The doer of the action may be omitted entirely, or it may be mentioned with a preposition such as "by."


4. Structure: The structure of a passive voice sentence is often "Subject + form of 'to be' + past participle + (by + doer)."

Let's take a look at the example provided: "Basically, if you can add --by zombies-- after the verb and it makes sense, you probably have a passive voice." This is a simplified test to determine if a sentence is in passive voice. If adding "by zombies" after the verb makes the sentence coherent and logical, it suggests that the sentence is structured in a way that the action is being received by the subject, which is characteristic of passive voice.

However, this test is not foolproof. It is a heuristic that can help in some cases but may not apply to all sentences. For a more accurate assessment, one must consider the grammatical structure and the presence of the verb "to be" in conjunction with the past participle.

To transform a passive voice sentence into active voice, you would identify the receiver of the action and make it the subject of the sentence, then place the doer of the action in the predicate.

For instance, consider the passive voice sentence: "The package was delivered by the courier." To make it active, you would say, "The courier delivered the package." Here, "the courier" is the doer of the action and is placed at the beginning of the sentence, with "delivered" as the main verb, and "the package" as the receiver of the action.

In summary, identifying passive voice involves looking for the presence of a form of "to be," the emphasis on the receiver of the action, and the structure of the sentence. The provided heuristic can be a helpful starting point but should be supplemented with a deeper grammatical analysis for a comprehensive understanding.

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Basically, if you can add --by zombies-- after the verb and it makes sense, you probably have passive voice. Yes, this makes sense; therefore, it is a passive voice sentence. To make this sentence active, you will need to put the noun doing the action in the subject location of the sentence.Oct 11, 2014read more >>