The same event can be framed from different vantage points. Voice is a grammatical system that adjusts the relationship between a verb and its arguments, most familiarly contrasting active and passive constructions.

In active voice the agent typically appears as subject; in passive voice the patient is promoted to subject and the agent may be omitted or demoted. Other systems include middle, antipassive, and applicative constructions. Voice changes discourse focus without necessarily changing the underlying event.

Writers choose voice to manage information structure and responsibility attribution. Typologists catalogue voice inventories and their morphological marking. Teaching materials often simplify voice as merely active versus passive, though many languages offer richer options.

• Grammatical alignment of verb and arguments
• Includes active, passive, and other constructions
• Shifts focus and argument prominence
• Marked morphologically or periphrastically