What Distinguishes Active Voice from Passive Voice?
Complete Difference Table of Active and Passive Voice Sentences
Combined Examples of Both Active and Passive Voice Sentences
Where to Use the Active Voice Sentences
Where to Use Passive Voice Sentences
How to Change Sentence Voice from Active to Passive & Vice Versa
Have you ever read a sentence that feels long and confusing, even though the idea itself is simple? In many cases, the issue lies in the voice of the sentence.
When writing, one of the most common challenges people face is deciding whether to use active or passive voice. Although both are grammatically correct, their usage can significantly impact the overall quality of the content, especially readability.
If you often struggle with this, then it means you are not fully clear on when and how to use each voice. In this blog post, we are going to explain all the essential details, especially the key differences between active and passive voice sentences.
In the active voice sentence structure, the subject performs the action. In more generalized terms, the person or thing performing the action comes first in an active voice sentence.
Here is an example for better understanding!
“Huma is playing football.”
The subject “Huma” is performing the action, which is “playing football.”
Similarly:
“The cat chases the ball.”
As a rule of thumb, remember the following structure for an active voice sentence:
Subject + Verb + Object
Benefits:
Writing sentences in the active voice can have multiple advantages.
Here, the subject receives the action instead of actually performing it.
In other words the focus of the sentence shifts from the action performer to the object that is affected by the action.
Note that, passive voice is grammatically correct, but the grammar rules change, and the subject and object shift their roles.
The original object of the active sentence becomes the new grammatical subject in the passive sentence. Whereas the original subject is either used with “By + agent (object)” or is completely omitted, if required.
“Football is being played by Huma.”
And
“The ball is chased by the cat.”
Here’s the standard structure of a passive voice sentence:
Subject + form of “to be” + past participle (+ by + Agent)
Benefits:
Here are some advantages of using passive voice in your writing.
The major difference is:
An active voice sentence focuses on the subject that is actually performing the action, resulting in direct and easy-to-read writing.
Talking about passive voice, the focus largely shifts from the doer of the action to the object. This results in a sentence that sounds a little formal and less personal.
This table highlights some of the key differences between active and passive voice sentences.
Aspect | Active Voice | Passive Voice |
Definition | The subject performs the action of the verb. | The subject receives the action of the verb. |
Focus | Focus is on the person or thing acting. | Focus is on the object affected by the action. |
Sentence Structure | Subject + Verb + Object | Object + form of “to be” + past participle + by + Subject |
Example | Huma is playing football. | Football is played by Huma. |
Clarity | Clear, direct, and easier to understand. | Less direct and sometimes harder to follow. |
Sentence Length | Usually shorter and more concise. | Often longer due to additional words. |
Tone of Writing | Engaging, direct, and dynamic. | More formal and impersonal. |
Best Used When | The writer wants to clearly show who is performing the action. | The writer wants to emphasize the action or when the doer is unknown. |
In this section, we are going to mention multiple combined examples of both active and passive sentences. By reviewing them, it will become easier for you to understand the exact difference.
Active: A snake bit the man.
Passive: The man was bitten by a snake.
Active: The client rejected the project.
Passive: The project was rejected by the client.
Active: They will send Natalia away from home.
Passive: Natalia will be sent away from home by them.
Active: Alina makes a cake.
Passive: A cake is made by Alina.
Here are some key areas in which you can use active voice sentences.
The attention span of the online audience is decreasing continuously. A recent study indicates that online users have an average attention span of around 8 seconds. This means they prefer short, direct, and easy-to-read information.
And this is exactly what the active voice offers. It helps you come up with concise and simple write-ups, while also creating a conversational tone that keeps the readers engaged for a prolonged period of time.
Business writing, such as emails, proposals, reports, workplace communication, etc., also uses the active voice. This is because such writing requires people to be clear, concise, and direct, as professionals don’t have much time to skim through lengthy text.
Since active voice sentences directly focus on action or a thing, it automatically results in writing that sounds confident and professional.
You can also use the active voice in narrative or creative writing. It will help you make storytelling vivid, engaging, and interesting, which is exactly what creative writing aims for. When the subject performs the action directly, the sentence structure starts feeling more dynamic and easier for the readers to follow.
Below are three different areas where passive voice sentences can be used.
The heading already explains what we will discuss here. Academic/technical writing asks the writer to sound formal and impersonal in their write-up. This can be easily achieved by writing sentences in passive voice.
This is because passive voice sentences focus on the object receiving the action. Oftentimes, it even completely overshadows the subject if it is not known or unclear to the writer.
We all know that legal drafts are required to be written in a fully neutral tone. By writing sentences in passive voice, you can not only achieve a neutral tone but also avoid placing a direct responsibility on someone else unless it is necessary.
When it comes to news writing, especially when reporting facts or events, passive voice sentences can significantly help highlight the event rather than the actor. This becomes even more useful when the actor is unknown (which is often the case) or neutrality is required in the news.
Below, we have discussed a proven procedure for converting active into passive and vice versa with examples.
Here are a few simple steps you need to follow in this regard.
You are required to first determine the primary components of an active sentence. Usually, there are only three:
Now, bring the object of the active sentence in place of the subject. Additionally, utilize the correct form of “to be” + past participle of the main verb. For instance, if the verb is “Explain” then it will be turned into “Explained.”
If required, you have the authority to include the original subject using “by.”
Example:
Active voice: The professor explains the lesson.
Passive voice: The lesson is explained by the professor.
Here is how you can quickly and accurately turn a passive sentence into the active voice.
Before starting the conversion process, there are a few parts of a passive voice sentence that you need to identify. These include:
Next, it is time to bring the word/phrase coming after the agent from the end of the passive sentence to the start. Also, remove “to be” and utilize the correct form of the verb based on the tense. For instance, if the previous verb was “eaten,” then use “ate” or the correct verb based on the original tense.
Make the receiver the main object of the sentence, as we have done below.
Passive voice: The cake was eaten by Tutan (receiver).
Active voice: Tutan ate the cake.
Performing the conversion process manually not only takes time and effort but also increases the chance of mistakes. If you feel nervous, then we’ve got you covered.
We have a specialized Active to passive converter. It is free and powered by AI algorithms to ensure maximum speed and accuracy in the conversion. It provides separate options to change active voice into passive and vice versa.
To demonstrate its working mechanism properly, we changed a passive sentence into an active one using this tool.
By utilizing such a converter, you can accurately change sentence voice from active to passive or vice versa with minimal effort.
Active and passive are actually different types of voices. These are used in combination in all forms of writing. Sentences written in active voice are usually direct, engaging, and concise. Whereas the passive ones are a little bit formal and impersonal. Apart from this, there are several other differences as well.
In this blog post, we have tried our best to explain every possible detail to help you understand the key difference between active and passive voice sentences.
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