Which of the following is an active sentence?

• A. The flag was raised by the Boy Scouts.
• B. The Boy Scouts raised the flag.
• C. The Boy Scouts will raise the flag.
• D. The flag is being raised by the Boy Scouts.

Answer: (B)

Active voice is when the subject does the action. In this sentence, The Boy Scouts is the one performing the action of raising, and the flag is what gets acted on. The word order is straightforward: a clear doer (the Boy Scouts) + the action (raised) + the object (the flag). That direct subject–verb–object structure shows who is doing the action right away, which is why this sentence is the best example of active voice.

The other sentences shift focus away from the doer or use a form of “be” plus a participle, which marks passive voice: the action is done to the subject or by someone else. The one about the flag being raised by the Boy Scouts, or the flag is being raised by the Boy Scouts, emphasizes the flag as the focus and uses a by-phrase to name the agent, signaling passive construction. The one about will raise uses a different tense but still has the doer as the subject; however, the typical classroom criterion for a clear active example is the simple, direct present/past form with the agent in front, as in this sentence.