When to Use Passive versus Active Voice in Your Writing?

100 Active-Passive Voice Exercises with Answers

LIST of English Tips to Improve Your Writing

Dangling Participles



© Ugur Akinci

You've heard it a thousand times that "passive voice" (PV) is bad and "active voice" (AV) is good. In general, I also agree with that advice.

For example, "I wrote this e-mail" (AV) is a much better way of stating the fact than the awkward "this e-mail was written" (PV).

However, as with everything else under the sun, there are exceptions to this rule as well. Sometimes passive voice is better because it does not always makes sense to identify the agent of an action.

For example, consider the sentence "The patient was transferred to the surgical service," provided as an example by Lester S. King, M.D., (Why Not Say It Clearly: A Guide to Scientific Writing, Little, Brown and Company, 1978).



QUESTION: Does it really matter for us to know who exactly transferred the patient to the surgical service?

ANSWER: Of course not because what we are really interested is the kind of treatment the patient receives.

Here is the COUNTER RULE # 1: if the identity of an agent is not crucial to the meaning of our story, then it is permissible to use passive voice construction.

For example:

"The last digit of the password is compared with the last record in the database."

Does it really matter "who" or "what" makes the comparison? If all we need to know is that a comparison is made by "the system," then I have no problem with using PV.

Actually, trying to force this kind of construction into active voice can end up opening a can of worms and distract the reader.

Consider the above sentence re-written in active voice:

"The A3-99T circuit compares the last digit of the password with the last record in the database." (Now all of a sudden we are not concentrating on the crucial act of comparing but wondering about that curious "A3-99T circuit." The thrust of the sentence is already deflected and the reader is forced to focus on an irrelevant detail.)

"John Smith compares the last digit of the password with the last record in the database." (We are thinking: "Who is John Smith, and why is he mentioned at all?")



Sometimes less is more. If the identity of an agent is not crucial to the main message or idea of a sentence, then you can go ahead and use PV with impunity.

Passive voice is also okay for “Instructions that Everyone Must Follow All the Time” (or, the Universal Imperative).

For example:

"Do not apply power to the system until after the installation is completed."

Do we really care WHO should not apply the power to the system, or WHO should complete the installation? The chances are we don't because we are describing a UNIVERSAL IMPERATIVE.

No matter who performs the act (or when it is performed), he or she should not apply the power to the system until after the installation is completed. That's why in this case PV is appropriate.

COUNTER RULE #2: Whenever you are describing a UNIVERSAL IMPERATIVE, that is, a guideline that should be followed by everyone 24-7, then use the passive voice.

Another example where using PV is okay:

"This document shall not be duplicated or disclosed to others."

Excerpted from e-book 101 Ways to Power-Up Your Writing

100 Active-Passive Voice Exercises with Answers

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17 (8.5" x 11") pages PDF e-book. Over 3,300 words.

About This E-Book

100 exercises teaching the correct way to use active and passive voice in sentence construction.

For each sentence, you first guess whether it's ACTIVE or PASSIVE voice; and then transform it into the other voice.

100 contemporary examples taken from the latest news reports about real world events are designed to keep the students engaged with the content.

An ideal exercise set both for the students who are learning English and the teachers who would like to offer lively fresh examples to their students about the correct way to use active or passive voice construction.

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