Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

Active Voice In active voice, the SUBJECT of the sentence is the one DOING the action. What is the subject of the sentence “The dog ran through the park”? For example, in the sentence “Jamie hugged Steve” Jamie is the subject, and she is the one DOING the action: hugging. Steve is the recipient of the action. The same is true for more complex sentences like “Katie kicked the soccer ball across the field”. Katie is the one doing the action: kicking. The soccer ball is the recipient of the action.

Passive Voice In passive voice, the SUBJECT of the sentence is now the recipient of the action. Steve is hugged BY Jamie. (The subject of the sentence becomes Steve, but he isn’t doing anything. Rather, he is just the recipient of Jamie’s hug. The focus of the sentence has changed from Jamie to Steve). The soccer ball was kicked across the field by Katie. This is an awkward sentence, which is why teachers encourage the use of ACTIVE voice. One clue that your sentence is passive is that the subject (ball) isn’t taking a direct action.

Passive Voice (cont’d) Another way to tell if a sentence is passive is if you can end the sentence with “by zombies” (or something else that you like… unicorns… your mom… a donkey). Passive sentences can often be written without the person/thing responsible for the action. Example: Her hair was cut. OR The work was turned in. The hair is the subject of the sentence and is also the recipient of the action. In this sentence, you can add “by zombies”, which is your clue that it is a passive sentence.

Why does this matter? Passive voice isn’t wrong, but it’s often a poor way to present your thoughts. Sometimes passive voice is awkward and other times it’s vague. Also, passive voice is usually wordy, so you can tighten your writing if you replace passive sentences with active sentence.

Why does this Matter? (cont’d) When you put sentences in passive voice, it’s easy to leave out the person or thing doing the action. For example, “Amy is loved” is passive. The problem with that sentence is that you don’t know who loves Amy. Politicians often use passive voice to intentionally obscure the idea of who is taking the action. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mistakes were made,” when referring to the Iran-Contra scandal. Other examples of passive voice for political reasons could include “Bombs were dropped” and “Shots were fired.” Pay attention to the news and listen for examples of passive voice.

When is Passive Voice Okay? When the recipient of the action is more important or should be the focus of the sentence, use passive voice. It sounds better to write “Your electricity will be shut off ” than “We, the electric company, will be shutting off your power.” By the end of the play, Cyrano is consumed by his insecurity. It is important to note the recipient of the action! If you truly don’t know who is taking the action, then you can’t name the person, like in a crime report. “The store was robbed.” The store was the recipient of the action, but should be the focus of the sentence. The active voice would use “somebody” (i.e. Somebody robbed the store), but then it is more vague.

Passive voice okay? (cont’d) Scientific writing often uses passive voice. Scientists are often encouraged to write in passive voice to lend their writing a sense of objectivity—to take themselves and their actions and opinions out of the experimental results. “We sequenced the DNA” inserts the scientist into the action, making them the focus, rather than the DNA. “The DNA was sequenced” is more appropriate. “The solution was added to the beaker” focuses on the solution rather than who put the solution into the beaker. This also makes your writing more formal!

Practice Thumbs up: Active Thumbs down: Passive

Holden is failing most of his classes. Active or Passive? Holden is failing most of his classes.

Active or Passive? The dogs are fed a special diet on Animal Farm.

Ram worked as a tour guide of Taj Mahal in Agra. Active or Passive? Ram worked as a tour guide of Taj Mahal in Agra.

The letters were written very well. Active or Passive? The letters were written very well.

Active or Passive? The game had been won by Concord Minutemen.