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Writing Resources

Most verbs can be written in either the passive or the active voice. In the active voice, the "doer" of the action is the grammatical subject of the sentence. Verbs make their greatest impact when you use them in the active voice.

ACTIVE VOICE:

ACTOR ACTION OBJECT

The programmer deleted the file.

PASSIVE VOICE:

OBJECT ACTION ACTOR

The file was deleted by the programmer.

We often succumb to the temptation to use the passive voice when we don't want to take responsibility for a statement or conclusion. However, readers know that someone is doing the action described, and they like to know who that someone is. The passive voice robs your work of energy and aliveness, and blurs your reader's sense of who is doing what. Avoid it.

How to Spot the Passive Voice

You form the passive voice with helping verbs such as "has," "had" and "is." Scan your work and strike out forms like "has been [done]" "is [decided, done]," whenever you can, replacing them with the stronger subject-verb-object structure.

Sentences with "by" phrases are generally in the passive voice: The object of "by" is usually the doer. "The report was written by the manager." Who wrote the report? The manager. "Filing is done by the staff." Who does the filing? The staff. (And they know it!) It would be better to write "The manager wrote the report," and "The staff does the filing."

If you have trouble recasting the sentence, just ask yourself, "Who did the main action here?" Make that person or organization the subject of the sentence, and voila! You will be in the active voice.

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