Your English Class

Verbs: Voice

Subscribe
RSS Feed
iTunes
Twitter
Facebook
Vimeo
YouTube

The active voice is used when the subject of the sentence does something. The passive voice is used when the subject is acted upon. For example, in the active voice, a sentence might read “the boss yells.” For the passive voice, add the past participle form of the verb to the appropriate form of the verb to be, for example: The cake is baked (was baked, has been baked, may be baked, will be baked).”

In formal writing, avoid reliance on the passive voice. It is a weak voice, used mainly in narrative writing when the subject of the sentence or performer of the action is not the focus of attention. For example: “The account was audited.”

The use of the passive is seen in the following:

The campaign has a new strategy, which will be rolled out next week.

Where directness is needed, try the active voice first although the passive voice may be appropriate sometimes to maintain parallelism.

Weak: His laziness showed that motivation was lacking in him.
Better: His laziness showed that he lacked motivation.

Weak: All the money that was contributed by us to the charity was squandered.
Better: All the money we contributed to the charity was squandered.

It’s always best to avoid a sudden shift from active to passive voice:

Poor: We went to the theater, where a great play was seen.
Better: We went to the theater, where we saw a great play.

Poor: Nutritious food is expensive, but great health benefits are rewarded to us.
Better: Nutritious food is expensive, but it rewards us with great health benefits.