Active voice | Examples, Definition & Use
Sentences can be in the active voice (e.g., “He made the breakfast”) or the passive voice (e.g., “The breakfast was made by him”).
In the active voice, the grammatical subject of the sentence is the “doer” of the action described by the verb (“He made…”), but in the passive voice, the subject is the “recipient” of this action (“The breakfast was made…”).
The mail carrier delivered the letter at about 10 a.m.
Did the man pick up the litter?
Who is writing the report?
The dog had eaten everything.
What is active voice?
You can think of the active voice as the “default” voice. It is inherently easier for a reader to process than the passive voice (children start to understand and use the active before the passive).
In the active voice, the subject of the sentence or clause is the “doer” of the action that the verb describes, but in the passive voice, the subject is the “recipient” of this action.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| My friend cuts my hair. | My hair was cut by my friend. |
| The mail carrier delivered the letter at about 10 a.m. | The letter was delivered at about 10 a.m. |
| Did the man pick up the litter? | Was the litter picked up by the man? |
| Who is writing the report? | The report is being written by whom? |
| The dog had eaten everything. | Everything had been eaten by the dog. |
Active vs passive voice
To transform the active voice into the passive voice you have to add the auxiliary verb “be” and use the past participle form of the main verb. You can leave out the “doer” of the action in the passive, but if you want to include it, it follows the preposition “by.”
| Active | Passive (“be” + past participle) |
|---|---|
| Paula always decorates the Christmas tree. | The Christmas tree is always decorated (by Paula). |
| She had to decorate it. | It had to be decorated (by her). |
| She was decorating it when the children arrived. | It was being decorated (by her) when the children arrived. |
| The children helped her to finish decorating it. | She was helped to finish decorating it (by the children). |
You can use intransitive verbs and linking verbs in the active voice, but not the passive voice.
- Ethan swims twice a week. [active voice]
- Ethan is swum twice a week. [passive voice]
- Kate seems very interested. [active voice]
- Kate is seemed very interested. [passive voice]
In the active voice, the “doer” (or agent) of the action described by the main verb is the subject of the sentence.
However, in the passive voice, the subject is the recipient of this action.
When we use ditransitive verbs (verbs with two objects) in the passive voice, the subject can be the recipient or the thing being transferred or acted upon.
The invitations are sent to the guests by Lilly. [Thing being transferred as subject]
Why use active voice?
The active voice is easier to process than the passive voice and is therefore often the best choice for clear, direct communication.
If you want to make your point in plain language so it’s easy to interpret, use the active voice where appropriate.
| Passive voice | Clearer active voice alternative | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Only black and white copies of the documents will be accepted and any originals will be rejected. | You should submit black and white copies of the documents. Please do not submit the originals because we cannot accept them. | Instructions and warnings are generally much clearer and therefore more effective when written in the active voice. If you want to rephrase a passive sentence to make it active, you often need to use different verbs. |
| It was found that preparation time had minimal effect on the outcomes. | We found that preparation time had minimal effect on the outcomes. | You can use the first person like this in academic writing (modern style guides encourage it—but check the style guide you’ve been asked to follow). |
| It is argued that this was the most significant contributing factor. | Many historians argue that this was the most significant contributing factor. | For passive sentences with “it” as the subject, you can use alternative subjects such as “critics,” “observers,” “commentators,” etc. to reformulate the sentence in the active voice. |
Sometimes using the passive voice helps us to emphasize particular information by allowing us to place it at the end of the sentence, which improves the logical flow of a text.
| Passive voice | Emphasis | Active voice | Emphasis |
|---|---|---|---|
| People often assume that she is responsible for the screenplays, but they were not written by the author. | Who did not write the screenplays. | People often assume that she is responsible for screenplays, but the author did not write them. | What the author did not write, which is perhaps not the logical thing to emphasize in this context (and therefore confusing). |
| This new strategy means that the project has been canceled. | What has happened to the project. | This new strategy means that the board has canceled the project. | What the board has decided about the project—who canceled it is perhaps irrelevant (and therefore confusing), or maybe emphasizing the board’s role in an unpopular decision is inappropriate. |
| The project was planned down to the very last detail. | How the project was planned. | The board planned the project down to the very last detail. | How the board planned the project —who planned it is perhaps irrelevant (and therefore confusing). |
| The project was not completed on time. It was insufficiently funded and was poorly planned. | When the project was completed and how it was funded and planned—we sometimes use the passive to maintain the same focus across multiple sentences (e.g., here “the project”). | The team did not complete the project on time. The board did not provide sufficient funding, and the team planned it poorly. | Who completed the project and when, who funded the project and how, and who planned the project and how—who did these things is perhaps irrelevant (and therefore confusing or could be interpreted as apportioning blame). |
Frequently asked questions about passive voice
- How do you find the subject of a sentence?
-
The subject is “what the sentence is about.”
If the sentence is in the active voice, then the subject of the sentence is the “doer” of the action described by the main verb.
For instance, in the sentence “Kate has to write her aunt a thank-you letter,” “Kate” is the subject (she is “doing” the writing).
If the sentence is in the passive voice, the subject is not the doer, it is the “recipient” of the action (or occasionally the thing being “transferred”).
For instance, if the information from the example above is expressed in the passive voice as “Kate’s aunt has to be written a thank-you letter,” the subject is “Kate’s aunt” (the recipient).
In the sentence “A thank-you letter has to be written to Kate’s aunt,” which is also in the passive voice, the subject is “a thank-you letter” (the thing being transferred).
Have you tried QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker? You can use it to check that the verbs in your sentences “agree with” the subjects.
- How do you change passive voice to active voice?
-
To change a sentence from the passive voice into the active voice, identify the “doer” of the action and then make it the subject of the sentence.
For instance, in this passive sentence, “The play was written by Shakespeare,” the verb is “write” and the “doer” is Shakespeare. So, the sentence with Shakespeare as the subject will begin “Shakespeare wrote…” If we add the rest of the information, the full sentence in the active voice is “Shakespeare wrote the play.”
You can use QuillBot’s free Paraphraser to rephrase sentences that are in the passive voice.
