Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

 

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice 

Understanding the difference between active and passive voice can elevate your writing, making it clearer and more effective. These two grammatical constructions determine how a sentence's subject, verb, and object interact.

What Is Active Voice?

In active voice, the subject of the sentence acts. This is the most straightforward and common sentence structure. It emphasizes who or what is responsible for the action, making your writing more direct and dynamic.

Structure of Active Voice:

• Subject → Verb → Object

Example:

• Active Voice: The chef cooked the meal.
• Here, “the chef” (subject) is performing the action of cooking (verb) on the meal (object).

Benefits of Active Voice:

• Clarity: The sentence is easier to understand because it’s clear who is doing the action.
• Conciseness: Active voice tends to be more concise, using fewer words.
• Energy: It makes your writing more engaging and livelier.

What Is Passive Voice?

In passive voice, the subject receives the action instead of performing it. The object of the action becomes the focus of the sentence, and the performer of the action may be omitted or placed at the end.

Structure of Passive Voice:

• Object → Verb (form of “to be”) → Subject (optional)

Example:

• Passive Voice: The meal was cooked by the chef.
• Here, “the meal” (object) is being acted upon by “the chef” (subject), but the focus has shifted to the meal rather than the chef.

Benefits of Passive Voice:

• Shifting Focus: Passive voice is useful when the action is more important than the person performing it.
• Formality: It’s often used in formal or scientific writing where the doer of the action is irrelevant or unknown.
• Variety: Passive voice can add variety to sentence structures when used sparingly.

When to Use Active vs. Passive Voice

1. Active Voice is preferred in most cases, especially in informal writing, journalism, and business communication, where clarity and directness are crucial.
2. Passive Voice works well when:
• The actor is unknown: The window was broken.
• The focus is on the action or result: The experiment was conducted in 2020.
• You want to be tactful or avoid assigning blame: Mistakes were made.

Tips to Recognize and Change Passive Voice

• Look for a “to be” verb (is, was, were, are, been) followed by a past participle (verb ending in -ed or irregular forms).
• Example: The book was written by the author. (passive) → The author wrote the book. (active)
• Rearrange the sentence to place the subject at the beginning, followed by the action and then the object (if necessary).

Conclusion

Mastering both active and passive voice allows you to tailor your writing to the right tone, clarity, and purpose. While active voice often leads to more engaging, concise sentences, passive voice has its place when used strategically. Understanding when and how to use both can make you a more versatile and effective writer.