Passive voice expressed by means of the active voice


I wonder what the reason is to say These cakes sell well instead of These cakes are being sold well.


I understand that it’s shorter but it doesn’t work with any verb, does it? For example, The house is being built can’t be substituted by The house is building.


So, what justifies and makes it acceptable to compose such a sentence which we can see in the example with the verb sell? Does it have something to do with the verb used or something else? If so, are there many verbs which can be used that way?




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