Using Active vs Passive Voice
Passive voice is a tricky concept to master, but once you do it can take your writing to the next level.
What is passive voice? Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is acted upon rather than performing an action in the sentence. The best way to explain is through examples.
- PASSIVE: The dog was walked by Joe.
The dog (the subject) does nothing, but is acted upon by Joe. - ACTIVE: Joe walked the dog.
Now Joe is the subject, and performs the action of walking the dog.
By changing the sentence to active voice, you eliminate unnecessary words and make your sentence more concise.
What might this look like in an essay?
- P: The argument is rejected by many scholars.
Do you see how “argument” performs no action? If we change it to active though… - A: Many scholars reject the argument.
… It becomes a more concise and more interesting sentence since “scholars” becomes the subject and performs the action “reject.”
Finding Passive Voice in Your Essay
FIRST, beware of non-action verbs. Some common non-action verbs are is, was, were
SECOND, look for “by…” phrases. If your sentence has a phrase such as “by Joe” or “by many scholars,” double check to make sure the sentence is not passive.
EXCEPTIONS: Of course, there are some rare occasions where the passive voice is preferred, but most of the time you should aim to write in active voice, especially if the writing is scientific.
Here are a few more examples:
- P: The arena was filled with smoke and confetti.
- A: Smoke and confetti filled the arena.
- P: It is argued that vaping is dangerous by some research.
- A: Some research argues that vaping is dangerous.
- P: Symbolism is demonstrated by the following quotation.
- A: The following quotation demonstrates symbolism.