63 Active Voice
What is Active vs Passive Voice?
A sentence written in active voice has a subject that performs the action of the verb. For example: The dog bit the mailman. The dog performs the action of biting.
A sentence in passive voice has almost a backwards arrangement. The subject and direct object of the example sentence are flipped: The mailman was bitten by the dog. Here, the subject mailman is not performing the action of the verb. He is not doing the biting.
Active voice is usually preferred to passive voice as active voice conveys meaning more clearly and more concisely. In the examples, “the dog / bit / the mailman” takes fewer words than “the mailman / was bitten / by / the dog.” Passive voice sentences usually contain “be” verbs and a prepositional phrase. Moreover, the brain has to slow down just a little bit to rearrange word order and decipher the meaning. However, passive voice can be preferred in specific situations, such as in scientific reports, an instance when the topic is most important and needs to fall in the subject position in a sentence: i.e., The gamma rays were dialed up to maximum force.
Further Reading
GCGLearnFree.org has posted an easy-to-follow Active vs. Passive video on YouTube: Active vs Passive Voice in Your Writing
Grammarly’s website details active and passive voice and suggests ways to switch passive to active: Writing in Active Voice
If you would rather listen to an explanation of active and passive voice, Mignon Fogarty, a. k. a. Grammar Girl, hosts a podcast that explains grammar topics in depth. Click here for her podcast on active voice.
Here’s a follow-up to Grammar Girl’s podcast on active voice.
Click here for Grammar Girl’s podcast on passive voice, which furthers a clearer understanding of active voice as well.