What differences between the two sentences do you notice—aside from the fact that one of the sentences is written in the active voice and one is written in the passive voice? Which sentence do you think is clearer or more effective? And which one would you be more likely to use or write yourself?
Although we’re often instructed to avoid the passive voice like the plague in our writing, it does have its merits when used strategically and effectively.
There are a few times when using the passive voice can be more effective than using the active voice.
Example: The store was robbed yesterday at noon by an unknown armed man wearing a mask.
Example: The young girl’s carotid artery was severed during surgery.
Example: The chemical was added to the solution.
Just imagine for a second what it would be like to use the active voice when writing within scientific contexts. If written in the active voice, scientific reports and studies would seem very monotonous and would draw attention away from the experiments and scientific findings themselves.
It is not grammatically incorrect to use the passive voice. There are times, however, when writing in the active voice is more effective than writing in the passive voice, as detailed above.
Using a form of “to be” in a sentence or passage doesn’t mean that the sentence is written in the passive voice. For example, the following sentences aren’t written in the passive voice:
Beware, grammar-checking software doesn’t always catch sentences that are written in the passive voice, because sentences written in the passive voice aren’t grammatically incorrect. So don’t expect your grammar-checking software to automatically change sentences written in the passive voice to sentences written in the active voice.
To write in the passive voice, you will need to use the following formula in your sentence(s):
Form of “to be” verb + past participle
To write a sentence in the active voice, you can:
Which of the following sentences are written in the passive voice? Share your answers in the comments below.