Transcript Passive vs. Active Voice

Passive vs. Active Voice
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.”