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Published byRoy Smith Modified over 8 years ago
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Passive vs. Active Voice
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What’s the Difference? Whether a sentence is written in passive voice or active voice, it has the same meaning. Active voice is just a clearer way of saying it. Passive voice – “The phone is being held by Susan.” Active voice – “Susan is holding the phone.” Passive voice – “The author had written many books.” Active voice – “The author wrote several books.”
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So how do I do it? To change a sentence from passive to active voice, the doer of the action becomes the subject of the sentence or clause. “The legal briefs were prepared by the legal assistants and the arguments were approved by the attorneys” becomes “The legal assistants prepared the legal briefs and the attorneys approved the arguments.” –In the first sentence, “legal briefs” and “arguments” are the subjects. “Were prepared” and “were approved” are the verbs. –In the second sentence, “legal assistants” and “attorneys” are the subjects. “Prepared” and “approved” are the verbs.
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More examples Passive – “The grapes were eaten by Lisa.” Active – “Lisa ate the grapes.” Passive – “The war was won by the Greeks.” Active – “The Greeks won the war.” Passive – “The paper has been edited by Carol.” Active – “Carol edited the paper.”
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Isn’t Passive Voice Correct? A sentence written in passive voice isn’t wrong; it’s just not the best way to present your writing. Active voice makes writing more lively, easier to read and more direct for the reader.
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Should I ever use passive voice? There are a few circumstances when passive voice may be needed. When you don’t know or say who/what performed the action. i.e. The shop was robbed. The event was cancelled. When the emphasis should be on who the action was done to. i.e. Katy Perry was interviewed by David Letterman.
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Quick notes Changing sentences from passive to active is an important part of the revision process. A common way to tell passive voice is if it is proceeded by “was” “were” “is” or “has been” and other type words. (“was talking”) Active voice usually has verbs ending in “-ed” “- ing” or “-s” (“talked”) To change a verb to active, you may have to use an irregular verb. i.e. “The pie was taken by a dog” to “A dog took the pie.”
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