Difference Between Voice and Speech in Grammar

The key difference between voice and speech in grammar is that the voice in grammar indicates whether a verb is active or passive while the speech in grammar indicates how we represent the speech of other people or ourselves.

Speech in grammar has two main categories as direct speech and indirect speech whereas voice in grammar has two main categories as active voice and passive voice. Speech and voice are two categories in grammar that most language learners find confusing and problematic.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Voice in Grammar
3. What is Speech in Grammar
4. Side by Side Comparison – Voice vs Speech in Grammar in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Voice in Grammar?

In grammar, voice determines whether a verb is active or passive. A sentence is active when the subject is the doer of the action; in contrast, it is passive when the subject is the target or the undergoer of the action. Active sentences are said to be in active voice while passive sentences are said to be in passive voice.

Active Voice

A sentence is in active voice if the subject is performing the action, which is indicated by the verb. For example,

Her cat ate a mouse.

Here, the subject ‘cat’ does the action. Thus, this sentence is in active voice.

Examples

• Leon shot the target.
• Annabelle cooked the dinner.
• Our principal punished two boys.
• The hunters killed a tiger.
• I gave him a puppy for his birthday.

Passive Voice

If the action is done to the subject, or if it’s the subject that undergoes the action, then that sentence is in the passive voice. For example,

A mouse was eaten by her cat.

Here, the action ‘eaten’ was done to the mouse. Thus, this sentence is in passive voice.

Figure 02: Active and Passive Voice

Examples

• • The target was shot by Leon
  • The dinner was cooked by Annabelle
  • Two boys were punished by our principal.
  • A tiger was killed by the hunters.
  • He was given a puppy for his birthday.

What is Speech in Grammar?

In grammar, speech refers to how we represent the speech of other people or ourselves. There are two types of speech as direct speech and indirect (reported) speech. Direct speech involves the repeating the words of someone directly indirect speech involves reporting the words spoken by someone.

Direct Speech

In direct speech, we repeat or quote the exact words spoken by someone else. In writing, these quoted words are written inside inverted commas. For example,

She asked, “When are you coming home?”

“There is a cockroach on my bed!” Anne screamed.

He said, “I won’t be returning to Orville.”

Indirect Speech

In indirect speech, we report what was said by someone else. Here, we don’t use the exact words as the original utterance.  We also convert pronouns, tense, place and time expressions appropriately.

Figure 01: Tense Change in Reported Speech

Observe the examples in direct speech and their equivalent indirect speech to understand this more clearly.

Rogan said, “I don’t speak French”. → Rogan said that he didn’t speak French.

“I have been to Paris” Victoria explained. → Victoria explained that she had been to Paris.

She said, “He will be in Paris on March”→ She said that he would be in Paris on March.

What is the Difference Between Voice and Speech in Grammar?

The voice in grammar indicates whether a verb is active or passive while speech in grammar indicates how we represent the speech of other people or ourselves. This is the key difference between voice and speech in grammar. Furthermore, speech has two main categories as direct speech and indirect speech while voice too has two main categories as active voice and passive voice.

Summary – Voice vs Speech in Grammar

Direct and indirect speech and active and passive voice are two important categories in grammar. The key difference between voice and speech in grammar is their function.

Image Courtesy:

1.’Speech reporter’By Taoufik2018 es – Own work, (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia  
2.’32899631473′ by attanatta (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr

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