Active Voice Tutorial

Voice refers to the relationship of subject and verb. In the active voice, the subject performs the action represented by the verb. The subject is the agent of action.

The Texans won the football game.

The subject of sentence, "Texans," performs the action identified by the verb. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action identified by the verb. The subject is the passive object of action, or the recipient of action.

The football game was won by the Texans.

The subject of sentence, "the football game," does not do the winning. Rather, it receives the winning.

Don't confuse voice with tense or with weak verbs. A sentence in the passive voice always has these components:

a to be verb

a past participle

Reasons to prefer the active voice

• Adds energy to the writing. Active voice conveys directly that people do things or that things happen. In passive voice, the emphasis is on the thing done, the result, rather than the action.
• Establishes responsibility. Active voice establishes agency or responsibility.

Overuse of the passive voice tends to break down the readability of sentences and often leaves too many questions unanswered. Consider this sentence: "A significant report was written on December 17." Who wrote the report? Are your readers to spend time finding out? While it is sometimes necessary to use the passive voice—when for instance, emphasis should be on the object or an idea—it is a mistake to use this type of construction remorselessly.

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Identify the following sentences as either active or passive.

1. Handbooks have been adopted by many instructors as texts for their technical writing classes.

Active Voice
Passive Voice

 

2. The report was written collaboratively by three engineers.

Active Voice
Passive Voice

 

3. Heavy waves pounded the seacoast.

Active Voice
Passive Voice

4.Buglar alarms were installed.

Active Voice
Passive Voice

Rewrite the following sentences in active voice:

5. Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese.

6. Through her studies of child-rearing, personality, and culture, world fame was achieved by Margaret Mead.

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