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 voice the subject acts; in passive voice the subject is acted upon. Both voices have uses in writing, but in general terms, active voice is preferable because it is more direct and immediate.

ACTIVE VOICE
In active voice, the 'doer' (the SUBJECT of the sentence) is active and placed first, and the sentence is direct and straight to the point. Examples include the following:

'The cat sat on the mat.'

'Andrew arrived late.'

'Michael murdered Sandy.'

'We accept the magistrate was to blame.'

'I will survive.'

'Most writers prefer active voice.'

In each case the subject of the sentence is put first, and then we are told what the subject did or is doing. The subject (the cat) sat on the mat. The subject (Andrew) arrived late... and so on. Active voice sentences are straight to the point and hard to misconstrue, and this makes them crisp, direct, and... well... active.

PASSIVE VOICE
In passive voice the 'doer' is hidden, obscured or implied, and the OBJECT of the sentence is placed first. The sentence is often more convoluted, and because of this the aim of using passive voice is sometimes to obscure the 'culprit'. You can often recognise passive voice sentences because they include a form of the verb 'to be', such as is, was, were, are, am, or been. For example, compare: 'the cat sat on the mat' (active) to 'the mat was sat upon by the cat' (passive). This example also illustrates another giveaway that the sentence is passive: the inclusion of a "by the..." phrase after the verb.

Examples of passive voice are:

'The mat was sat upon by the cat.'

'It was said that Andrew arrived late.'

'Sandy was murdered by Michael.'

'It was accepted the magistrate was to blame.'

'Survival is an expected outcome.'

'Active voice is preferred by most writers.'

Generally, most writers prefer active voice most of the time because passive voice can sound contrived or awkward, and because overuse of passive voice can make the writing seem flat and unintersting. In scientific or technical writing, however, passive voice may be more appropriate because it makes the use of personal pronouns unnecessary, and the writing can seem more objective than subjective.

Whether you decide to use active or passive voice depends what you are writing, why you are writing, and what you hope to achieve by your writing. There are times when passive voice is the best option, especially for business or professional writing, but for most writing active voice is generally the best option most of the time.

Learn more about this author, Lin Edwards.
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