Writer's craft: Active and passive voices 10 Articles

by Lin Edwards

Writers, like any other artists, must know their craft, and part of the craft is knowing the difference between active and passive voice and knowing when it is appropriate to use each of them. Put simply, in active voi...read more

by Lynn Fowler

In spite of what many writers - and, unfortunately, some teachers of writing - believe, active and passive voice has nothing to do with the "strength" of the verb. Rather, it is about the direction of the action. In act...read more

by Kelly A. Mello

Distinguishing the rules between the active and passive voice could mean the difference between receiving a Pulitzer Prize and losing the reader after the first sentence. For this reason, the active and passive voices ar...read more

by Ron Arendas

As business, creative, and technical writers, we should prefer the active voice but not be afraid to use the passive voice when emphasizing action or when the actor is unknown or unimportant. An example of a sentence wr...read more

by Jennifer Walker

A common grammar mistake a lot of people make, myself included, is overuse of passive voice. Passive voice means that the sentence shows an action happening to the subject, rather than the subject taking the action. This i...read more

by Wendy Mackrell

PASSIVE VOICE-Lose It ! Passive is a term you will hear bandied around a lot. But what does it actually mean? Some think it means was' is a dirty word. Many times it is, but not always. My rule of thumb, and somethin...read more

by Valerie Ashton

Keep PASSIVE VERBS out of your writing. In a passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action. In an active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action. EXAMPLE OF PASSIVE VOICE (undesireable): ...read more

by Anonomous User1

The distinction between these two terms is quite simple, though their relative effects upon readers can be significantly different. Using active voice simply means: you state the 'actor' in the situation and then declar...read more

by blizzardwaves

Learn the difference between active and passive voices and when to use each one, and your writing will immediately sound better. Which of these sentences feels more alive? A. The dog bit the cat. B. The cat was ...read more

by JR Balliett

New writers don't know the difference in the passice voice and an active voice. They haven't studied the basic rules of writing. They think they can write because their friends and family tell them they write good, so t...read more