You have probably heard instructors ask students not to use passive voice or to stick to active voice. Active voice vs passive voice is one of the key English lessons taught to English students. However, most students and adults still confuse these two elements.
Active voice is a writing style that asserts that the grammatical subject of a sentence performs the action denoted by the verb. E.g., John pushed the door. Passive voice asserts that the grammatical subject was affected/acted on by the action denoted by the verb. E.g., The door was pushed by John.
Most people assume that the difference between active and passive voice is complex, and it might take so much time before they grasp the concept. However, this is not the case. Read on for more insight on using and differentiating active and passive voices in sentences.
Definitions Of Active Voice And Passive Voice
Active and passive voices are not quite familiar words with a standard definition. However, you can look up these phrases to understand them. Here is an explanation of what passive and active voice is.
Definitions Of Active Voice
The formal definition of active voice is “a quality of a verb that explains when a sentence subject performs or acts out the action with a verb.”
Active voice also refers to a writing style where the grammatical subject competes with the action that a verb represents in a sentence.
For example, “Kimberly knocked over the mug.” In this sentence, “Kimberly” is the subject, and “knocked over” is the verb. So, the sentence asserts that the subject acted.
Another definition of active voice is “a sentence writing style where the subject acts.” For example, “The dog chases the stranger.” In this sentence, the subject is “dog,” and the action is “chases.”
Another source defines active voice as “a verb whose subject executes the action expressed by the verb.” For example, Samantha painted the fence. This example is in active voice because the subject “Samantha” performs the action expressed by the verb “painted.”
Definitions Of Passive Voice
Passive voice is a sentence writing style that involves making the subject, the person, or the object acted on or influenced by the action denoted by the verb.
For example, “The mug was knocked over by Kimberly.” In this sentence, the subject is the object “mug” that the verb “knocked over” affected.
In a passive voice, you place the target of the action first. Therefore, the target becomes the sentence focus. For example, “The stranger is being chased by the dog.”
Notice how the subject “dog” moves to the end of the sentence as the target “stranger” moves to the front in this sentence.
How To Properly Use Passive Voice And Active Voice In A Sentence
In grammar, a voice describes the relationship between an action or state expressed or represented by a verb and the participant identified by the subject or object. So, there are two grammatical voices in English; passive and active voice.
How To Use Active Voice
An active voice sentence features the following structure: subject (actor) + verb (action) + target. More so, an active voice is highly preferred for the following reasons:
- It makes the sentences’ meanings clear and precise for readers. Too much passive voice can cloud sentence meanings
- Using active voice allows you to keep your sentences simple and short
- Active sentences are easier to construct
Use active voice in the following instance:
- When you want to write shorter and more direct sentences. An example is, “John played with the toy car.”
- When you want to give a sentence a sense of authority. For example, “The council passed a new law.”
- When the performer or actor is important. For example, “The president signed the declaration.”
- In non-scientific writing
- In academic and formal writing because it is more direct
How To Use Passive Voice
A passive voice sentence features the following structure: Target + verb (action) + subject (actor).
Use passive voice in the following instances:
- When you do not know the verb actor. For example, “The cave was painted.” In this example, the person or object performing the ” painted ” action is unknown.
- If the actor is irrelevant. For example, “A building was constructed in the South wing.”
- When you want to be vague about the person responsible for an action. For example, “Arguments were started.”
- When you want to only focus on the general truth. For instance, “Actions are made to be performed.”
- When you want to emphasize the target. For instance, “Covid was discovered in China.”
Three Grammar Rules When Using Active Voice
Active voice is the most preferred grammar voice in English writing. However, before using this grammatical writing style, here are some rules you should know:
The Sentence Must Have A Subject
The first rule of using active voice is that your sentence must have a subject. The subject is the action performer. Therefore, if you do not know the performer, you should use passive voice instead.
The Subject Comes At The Beginning
In an active voice, the subject is the sentence’s focus instead of the target. Therefore, your sentence should begin with the subject or actor. This emphasizes the importance. For example, John pushed the cart.
The Sentence Should Be Direct
The point of active voice is to indicate action and its performer directly. Therefore, active voice sentences should be short and direct.
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Active Writing Vs Passive: The Differences
Now that you understand the definitions and how to use active and passive voice, let us look at their fundamental differences. The key differences between active and passive writing are:
- Active writing emphasizes the actor or performer of an action, while passive writing emphasizes the target of an action.
- Active voice is commonly applied in formal and academic writing, while passive voice is preferred in non-scientific and news writing.
- Active voice must include an actor, while passive voice can ignore or not indicate the actor.
- Active voice sentences are usually shorter than passive voice sentences.
- Active voice writing is more straightforward than passive voice.
List Of Examples Of Passive Voice And Active Voice Use In Sentences
The sections above comprehensively explain the differences between active and passive voice. The next step is checking out sample sentences that apply these English grammar styles. Here are examples of sentences in active and passive voice.
Example sentences with active voice
- The students painted their classrooms and dorms.
- The girls found an old TV in their parent’s garage.
- John upgraded the bedroom wall last night.
- The committee ruled against the lecturer following his public outburst.
- The teacher punished all her students for misconduct.
Example sentences with passive voice
- The classrooms and dorms were painted by the students.
- The old TV in the parent’s garage was found by the girls.
- The bedroom was upgraded by John last night.
- Action against the lecturer was ruled by the committee following his public outburst.
- All the students were punished by the teacher for misconduct.
Conclusion
The difference between active and passive voice is their structure. Active voice places the subject at the beginning and the action next to it. It denotes the subject as the actor of the verb action. On the other hand, the passive voice places the target at the beginning as the recipient of the verb action.
Active and passive voices are equal grammatical voices. Therefore, none is intrinsically better than the other, even though most prefer an active voice. Note that each grammatical voice is ideal for specific writing types. For instance, news anchors prefer passive voice, while formal content writers prefer active voice.
Shawn Manaher is the founder and CEO of The Content Authority. He’s one part content manager, one part writing ninja organizer, and two parts leader of top content creators. You don’t even want to know what he calls pancakes.