Active vs.

Passive Voice

Take a sentence like “I want ice cream now.” It’s clear and straightforward—you
know immediately that the subject, I, wants an object, ice cream. Now, recast this
sentence, flipping it so that the object is in the position of the subject: “Ice cream is
wanted by me now.” It isn’t just longer, but it’s also more detached, roundabout, and
a little awkward, too.

Those two sentences are examples of the active voice and the passive voice. Certain
kinds of writing are best suited for the active voice, while the passive voice is most
appropriate for other kinds of writing. Understanding how, when, and why to use each
is key to being an effective writer and speaker.

What is active voice, what is passive voice,

and what are their different functions?
In the active voice, the subject is performing an action:

The dog chases the ball.

Notice how the subject, dog, is performing the action, chase, on the target of the
action, ball. This is a simple, direct example of the active voice.

In the passive voice, the action’s target, ball, is positioned first as the focus of the
sentence. The sentence gets flipped, and the subject is now being acted upon by the
verb. In other words, the subject is passive:

The ball is being chased by the dog.

Active and passive are the two grammatical voices in English. Neither is inherently
better than the other, but each is suited to certain types of writing. There’s a reason
why news anchors sound detached from the stories they’re reporting: They often
speak using the passive voice. There’s also a reason why the authors of opinion pieces
sound so sure of their positions: They usually write in the active voice.

Although the idea of teachers telling their students to avoid the passive voice is
repeated so frequently that it feels like a trope, the truth is that the passive voice does
have its applications. We’ll get into those later. For now, let’s look at how to
recognize the active voice and the passive voice in your writing and in others’ work.

Active voice

As we’ve learned, in the active voice, the sentence’s subject performs the action. Here
are two examples of sentences in the active voice:

Shira likes birdwatching.

She loves twilight.

No matter what verb you use, structuring your sentence so the subject performs the
verb is writing in the active voice.

The active voice has a direct, clear tone. Use it when you want the reader to focus on
the subject of your sentence and the action it is doing rather than on the action’s target.

Passive voice

In the passive voice, the action’s target is the focus, and the verb acts upon the subject.
Or, to put it in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb. Every sentence
in the passive voice contains two verbs:

 A conjugated form of “to be”

 The main verb’s past participle

Take a look at the previous examples, now written in passive voice:

Birdwatching is liked by Shira.

Twilight is loved by her.

Notice how the targets of the action—also the direct objects of the sentences—are
now the focus. The sentences now contain a conjugated form of “to be” (is) and the
main verb’s past participle (liked and loved). Often, sentences in the passive voice are
longer than sentences in the active voice simply because they have to include
additional words like prepositions. Take a look at this sentence in the passive voice:

Summer break is [conjugated form of “to be”] loved [past participle of the main verb]
by [preposition] my friends.
However, sentences written in the passive voice don’t necessarily need a preposition.
Take a look at the example sentences below:

The check was paid.

He will be remembered.

The Philippines is known for its marine biodiversity.

The passive voice has a subtler tone than the active voice has. Sometimes your
writing needs this tone, like when you want your reader to focus on the action being
described or the action’s target rather than on who or what is performing the action.
This is why the passive voice is used in lab reports—it conveys scientific objectivity
by minimizing the focus on the doer of the action.

Active and passive voice usage

Although you may have been told that writing in the passive voice is “bad writing,”
it’s actually more nuanced than that. For most of the writing you do, like emails, blog
posts, and many kinds of essays, the active voice is a more effective way to
communicate the ideas, themes, and facts you’re expressing.

In certain kinds of writing, though, the passive voice is necessary. Think about how
news reports about crime and incidents are usually written and delivered:

A car was broken into on Elm Street last night.

Cash was stolen from the register.

In these kinds of reports, the passive voice is used to emphasize the action that
occurred rather than the individual or group who committed the action, often because
the perpetrator isn’t known or hasn’t yet been found guilty of the offense.

There are other kinds of writing where the action itself, rather than the doer of the
action, is the primary focus. These include scientific and, in some cases, historical
reports. These use the passive voice to keep the reader’s focus on what has happened
or is happening. Here are a few examples:

The rats were placed into the maze.

The governor was inaugurated at the statehouse.

Notice how in both of these sentences, the doer of the action isn’t mentioned. That’s
because it’s either implied or irrelevant. In the first example, the scientist performing
the experiment is the one who placed the rats in the maze. In the second, those
conducting the inauguration ceremony aren’t relevant to what’s being expressed in the
sentence.
How to change passive voice to active voice
After you finish your first draft, read it. You might even want to read it aloud and
listen to how it sounds. By reading and listening to your own work, you can catch
awkward sentences and unclear phrasing and mark them as points to revise in your
next draft. You’ll also hear where you used the active and passive voices and how
they shift your work’s tone as a whole.

Let’s say you’ve detected a few instances of the passive voice in your argumentative
essay:

More flexible scheduling options are deserved by students. Significant amounts of

tuition are paid to the university every year, and many feel the level of service being
paid for by students is not being received.

See how these sentences feel like they’re dancing around the topic at hand rather than
addressing it head-on? The writer isn’t making a particularly persuasive argument, but
they can make their writing far more impactful by changing it to the active voice.

Sentence-by-sentence, identify who or what is performing the action, and make that
the subject when you rewrite it. In the first sentence, make students the subject, since
that’s who is performing the action. The main verb in this sentence is deserve, and the
target is more flexible scheduling options, which will become the direct object in your
new sentence. With these identified, restructure the sentence so the subject is now
directly performing the verb. In the active voice, this sentence would read like this:

Students deserve more flexible scheduling options.

See how this version gets right to the point? It makes the writer sound more confident
too, which is a priority in argumentative writing. Let’s try changing the second
sentence to the active voice, which also allows us to condense:

Students pay a significant amount of tuition to the university every year, and many
feel they aren’t receiving the level of service they’re paying for.

As you can see from the compound sentence above, you can write any kind of
sentence in the active or passive voice as long as the sentence has a transitive verb.
Whether it’s a simple or complex sentence (or even a compound-complex sentence),
you can dramatically alter your tone by simply reworking its structure.

If you aren’t sure whether a sentence is active or passive based on how it sounds, use
the rules we outlined above to identify the two voices in your work. The biggest clue
you have a passive voice sentence on your hands will be a form of “to be” followed
by a past participle (e.g., was requested or will be missed). Not every passive voice
sentence says who is performing the action, but if it does, you’ll see a preposition next
to it (e.g., by zombies or by my brother).

You can use either voice when you’re paraphrasing a longer work. Sometimes, such
as in cases where you’re paraphrasing a scientific article, you’ll need to use the
passive voice in your paraphrased version. In others, you might actually make the
original clearer by paraphrasing in the active voice.

Active and passive voice examples

Take a look at these examples of both the active and passive voices in action:

Active: Is Ajani visiting us today?

Passive: Will we be visited by Ajani today?

As you see, questions can be written in either voice. Other kinds of sentences, like
exclamatory and imperative sentences, are often best written in the active voice:

Active: Please remove your shoes before entering my house.

Passive: Shoes should be removed before entering my house.

Active: Lock the door!

Passive: Let the door be locked!

See how with the first pair, the passive voice makes the request feel more like a
suggestion? In the second pair, the passive voice makes the message sound stilted and
formal rather than an urgent exclamation.

Now take a look at these two examples:

Active: I poured the solution into the beaker and heated it to 100℉.

Passive: The solution was poured into the beaker and heated to 100℉.

Active and passive voice FAQs

What is active voice, what is passive voice, and what’s the
difference?

In the active voice, the sentence’s subject performs the action on the action’s target. In
the passive voice, the target of the action is the main focus, and the verb acts upon the
subject. There are numerous differences between the two grammatical voices, but the
most important is that the active voice is clearer and more direct, while the passive
voice is subtler and can feel more detached.

When should you use active vs. passive voice?

Use the active voice in any sentence that focuses on the doer of the action. Unless the
majority of your writing is scientific or reporting incidents involving unknown
perpetrators, most of the sentences you write should be in the active voice.
The passive voice is meant for sentences where you need to emphasize the target of
an action or the action itself rather than who or what is performing the verb.

How do you change passive voice to active?

To change the passive voice to the active voice, determine who is actually performing
the action in the sentence, then restructure the sentence so that the performer is the
focus, clearly performing the verb upon the sentence’s direct object.

 Passive: Salsa dancing has always been loved by our community.

 Active: Our community has always loved salsa dancing.