Active and Passive Voice

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Active Voice
n sentences written in active voice! the sub"ect perfor#s the action e$pressed in the verb% the sub"ect acts.

n each e$a#ple above! the sub"ect of the sentence perfor#s the action e$pressed in the verb. Would you li&e to see e$a#ples of all the verb tenses in active voice'

Passive Voice
n sentences written in passive voice! the sub"ect receives the action e$pressed in the verb% the sub"ect is acted upon. (he agent perfor#ing the action #ay appear in a )by the . . .) phrase or #ay be o#itted.

*agent perfor#ing action has been o#itted.+

,o#eti#es the use of passive voice can create aw&ward sentences! as in the last e$a#ple above. -lso! overuse of passive voice throughout an essay can cause your prose to see# flat and uninteresting. n scientific writing! however! passive voice is #ore readily accepted since using it allows one to write without using personal pronouns or the na#es of particular researchers as the sub"ects of sentences *see the third e$a#ple above+. (his practice helps to create the appearance of an ob"ective! fact.based discourse because writers can present research and conclusions without attributing the# to particular agents. nstead! the writing appears to convey infor#ation that is not li#ited or biased by individual perspectives or personal interests. /ou can recogni0e passive.voice e$pressions because the verb phrase will always include a for# of be! such as am! is! was! were! are! or been. (he presence of a be.verb! however! does not necessarily #ean that the sentence is in passive voice. -nother way to recogni0e passive.voice sentences is that they #ay include a )by the...) phrase after the verb% the agent perfor#ing the action! if na#ed! is the ob"ect of the preposition in this phrase. Would you li&e to see e$a#ples of all the verb tenses in passive voice'

Choosing Active Voice

n #ost nonscientific writing situations! active voice is preferable to passive for the #a"ority of your sentences. 1ven in scientific writing! overuse of passive voice or use of passive voice in long and co#plicated sentences can cause readers to lose interest or to beco#e

confused. ,entences in active voice are generally..though not always.. clearer and #ore direct than those in passive voice. passive (indirect) active (direct):

,entences in active voice are also #ore concise than those in passive voice because fewer words are re2uired to e$press action in active voice than in passive. passive (more wordy) active (more concise)

Changing passive to active

f you want to change a passive.voice sentence to active voice! find the agent in a )by the...) phrase! or consider carefully who or what is perfor#ing the action e$pressed in the verb. Ma&e that agent the sub"ect of the sentence! and change the verb accordingly. ,o#eti#es you will need to infer the agent fro# the surrounding sentences which provide conte$t. Passive Voice Agent Changed to Active Voice

#ost of the class agent not specified% #ost li&ely agents such as )the researcher s) the 3 director and his close advisors agent not specified% #ost li&ely agents such as )we)

Choosing Passive Voice

While active voice helps to create clear and direct sentences! so#eti#es writers find that using an indirect e$pression is rhetorically effective in a given situation! so they choose passive voice. -lso! as #entioned above! writers in the sciences conventionally use passive voice #ore often than writers in other discourses. Passive voice #a&es sense when the agent perfor#ing the action is obvious! uni#portant! or un&nown or when a writer wishes to postpone #entioning the agent until the last part of the sentence or to avoid #entioning the agent at all. (he passive voice is effective in such circu#stances because it highlights the action and what is acted upon rather than the agent perfor#ing the action. active passive (he dispatcher is notifying police Police are being notified that three

that three prisoners have escaped. ,urgeons successfully performed a new e$peri#ental liver. transplant operation yesterday. )-uthorities make rules to be bro&en!) he said defiantly.

prisoners have escaped. - new e$peri#ental liver.transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday. )4ules are made to be bro&en!) he said defiantly.

n each of these e$a#ples! the passive voice #a&es sense because the agent is relatively uni#portant co#pared to the action itself and what is acted upon.

Changing active to passive

f you want to change an active.voice sentence to passive voice! consider carefully who or what is perfor#ing the action e$pressed in the verb! and then #a&e that agent the ob"ect of a )by the...) phrase. Ma&e what is acted upon the sub"ect of the sentence! and change the verb to a for# of be 5 past participle. ncluding an e$plicit )by the...) phrase is optional. Active Voice Agent Changed to Passive Voice (he presidin g officer

(he leaders (he scientist s n each of these e$a#ples! the passive voice is useful for highlighting the action and what is acted upon instead of the agent.

Some suggestions

6. -void starting a sentence in active voice and then shifting to passive. Unnecessary shift in voice Revised Many custo#ers in the Many custo#ers in the restaurant restaurant found the coffee too found the coffee too bitter to drin&! but bitter to drin&! but it was still they still ordered it fre2uently. ordered fre2uently. He tried to act cool when he He tried to act cool when he slipped in slipped in the puddle! but he the puddle! but the other students still was still laughed at by the laughed at hi#. other students. 7. -void dangling #odifiers caused by the use of passive voice. dangling #odifier is a word or phrase that #odifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. Dang ing modifier with Revised passive voice (o save ti#e! the paper was (o save ti#e! 8ristin wrote the paper written on a co#puter. *Who on a co#puter. was saving ti#e' (he paper'+ ,ee&ing to lay off wor&ers without ta&ing the bla#e! ,ee&ing to lay off wor&ers without consultants were hired to brea& ta&ing the bla#e! the 31O hired the bad news. Who was see&ing consultants to brea& the bad news. to lay off wor&ers' (he consultants'+ 9. :on;t trust the gra##ar.chec&ing progra#s in word.processing software. Many gra##ar chec&ers flag all passive constructions! but you #ay want to &eep so#e that are flagged. (rust your "udge#ent! or as& another hu#an being for their opinion about which sentence sounds best.