The governor was inaugurated at the statehouse. These use the passive voice to keep the reader’s focus on what has happened or is happening. These include scientific and, in some cases, historical reports. There are other kinds of writing where the action itself, rather than the doer of the action, is the primary focus. In these kinds of reports, the passive voice is used to emphasize the action that occurred rather than the individual or group who committed the action, often because the perpetrator isn’t known or hasn’t yet been found guilty of the offense. Think about how news reports about crime and incidents are usually written and delivered:Ī car was broken into on Elm Street last night. In certain kinds of writing, though, the passive voice is necessary. For most of the writing you do, like emails, blog posts, and many kinds of essays, the active voice is a more effective way to communicate the ideas, themes, and facts you’re expressing. This is why the passive voice is used in lab reports -it conveys scientific objectivity by minimizing the focus on the doer of the action.Īlthough you may have been told that writing in the passive voice is “bad writing,” it’s actually more nuanced than that. Sometimes your writing needs this tone, like when you want your reader to focus on the action being described or the action’s target rather than on who or what is performing the action. The passive voice has a subtler tone than the active voice has. The Philippines is known for its marine biodiversity. Take a look at the example sentences below: However, sentences written in the passive voice don’t necessarily need a preposition. Take a look at this sentence in the passive voice: Often, sentences in the passive voice are longer than sentences in the active voice simply because they have to include additional words like prepositions. The sentences now contain a conjugated form of “to be” ( is ) and the main verb’s past participle ( liked and loved ). Notice how the targets of the action-also the direct objects of the sentences-are now the focus. Take a look at the previous examples, now written in passive voice: Every sentence in the passive voice contains two verbs: Or, to put it in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb. In the passive voice, the action’s target is the focus, and the verb acts upon the subject. Use it when you want the reader to focus on the subject of your sentence and the action it is doing rather than on the action’s target. The active voice has a direct, clear tone. No matter what verb you use, structuring your sentence so the subject performs the verb is writing in the active voice. Here are two examples of sentences in the active voice: Active voiceĪs we’ve learned, in the active voice, the sentence’s subject performs the action. For now, let’s look at how to recognize the active voice and the passive voice in your writing and in others’ work. There’s also a reason why the authors of opinion pieces sound so sure of their positions: They usually write in the active voice.Īlthough the idea of teachers telling their students to avoid the passive voice is repeated so frequently that it feels like a trope, the truth is that the passive voice does have its applications. There’s a reason why news anchors sound detached from the stories they’re reporting: They often speak using the passive voice. Neither is inherently better than the other, but each is suited to certain types of writing. In other words, the subject is passive :Īctive and passive are the two grammatical voices in English. The sentence gets flipped, and the subject is now being acted upon by the verb. In the passive voice, the action’s target, ball, is positioned first as the focus of the sentence. This is a simple, direct example of the active voice. Notice how the subject, dog, is performing the action, chase, on the target of the action, ball. In the active voice, the subject is performing an action: Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What is active voice, what is passive voice, and what are their different functions?
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