1. What are Active and Passive voice?
Active and passive voice refers to whether the subject or the object in the sentence performs the action of the verb
In active voice the subject performs the action of the verb
In passive voice the object performs the action of the verb
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

2. The student presented the talk.
Active Voice
The subject performs the action of the verb
Example:
The student presented the talk.
The subject
The action of the verb
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

3. The article summarized the research
Active Voice
The subject performs the action of the verb
Example:
The article summarized the research
The subject
The action of the verb
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

4. The talk was presented by the student
Passive Voice
The object performs the action of the verb
The talk was presented by the student
The action of the verb
The object
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

5. The research was summarized by the article
Passive Voice
The object performs the action of the verb
Example:
The research was summarized by the article
The object
The action of the verb
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

6. How do Active and Passive voice Differ?
The examples just shown are the same in terms of what actually happens
In both cases the student did the presenting
In both cases the article did the summarizing
So how are they different?
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

7. How do Active and Passive Voice Differ?
Active voice is direct
The subject directly acts on the object
The tone is clear and immediate
As if you throw a ball directly at a target
The target gets all the force of the ball
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

8. Active Voice
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

9. How do Active and Passive voice differ?
Passive voice is indirect
The subject is acted ON by the object
The tone is roundabout
As if you bounce a ball off a wall to hit a target
The wall and the target both get some of the force of the ball
So the impact is not as strong or clear
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

10. Passive Voice
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

11. Changing Passive to Active Voice-Example
Here is a bad example of using passive voice in a psychology paper
Depression has been researched by scientists for decades.
There is no reason to use passive voice, it makes the sentence harder to follow. A preferred version uses active voice:
Scientists have researched depression for decades.
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

12. Changing Passive to Active Voice-Example 2
Here is a 2nd bad example of using passive voice in a psychology paper
Surveys were handed out to participants by research assistants.
This sentence makes the research process sound rather mysterious. A preferred version uses active voice:
Research assistants handed surveys out to the participants.
Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell