Passive Voice

Passive Voice In a sentence that uses passive voice, the receiver of the action is the subject The doer of the action is often found after the verb (as the object) The verb is a form of to be: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been

Use passive voice sparingly Passive voice tends to use too many words, making sentences long and hard to follow. Passive voice tends to bore readers Passive voice misplaces interesting information to the end of the sentence. Passive voice begins to feel repetitive if used too often.

Example: Making New Year’s resolutions is a popular activity. New Year’s resolutions are made by a lot of Americans who end up not keeping them. There are several reasons why people should be careful to make achievable resolutions. There are 3 to be verbs in 3 sentences. No variety. In each sentence, the main idea comes at the end of the sentence, making the reader wait to do important thinking Ideas are lost amongst extra words.

Reduce the to be verbs to 1 by making the last two sentences active voice. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action. These sentences are usually more specific and purposeful. Active voice engages readers by putting important ideas first. Revise passive voice to active voice by changing the subject. Look for the doer of the action and make that the subject.

Revise the example: Revised: First Draft: Making New Year’s resolutions is a popular activity. (Leave this short and to the point sentence as is – it isn’t particularly engaging, but makes its point clearly.) New Year’s resolutions are made by a lot of Americans who end up not keeping them. (The doer in this sentence is Americans – make them the subject) There are several reasons why people should be careful to make achievable resolutions. (The doer in this sentence is people – make them the subject). Revised: Making New Year’s resolutions is a popular activity. Many Americans make New Year’s resolutions every year but end up failing at them. People should make achievable resolutions that will lead to success and improvement.

Revising your draft Look for to be verbs in your draft: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been Revise sentences so that only one sentence per paragraph has a to be verb. Remember to look for the doer in the sentence to help you revise it.