#ACTIVE VOICE HOW TO#

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.

#ACTIVE VOICE HOW TO#

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?