This handout is also available for download in PDF format. We refer to a sentence as being in the "active voice" when the subject is performing the action of the sentence (the verb). A sentence is in ...

Writing in the active voice makes the meaning clear while keeping sentences from becoming complicated and wordy. Sentences using passive voice are not necessarily wrong, just less effective than ...

Professors often ask their students to avoid the passive voice in their writing, but what exactly is the passive voice? In contrast to active verbs, which describe an action being done ... These ...

In English, there are two voices--active and passive. If the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is said to be in the "active voice"; for example: I stopped. I bathed. The ...

However, in each pair one sentence uses the active voice and one uses the passive voice ... is closer to the beginning of the sentence. For example:‘The exam was passed by the pupil’ would ...

Voice is a grammatical category, an operator, that has no directly link to conceptual structure. Voice is a complex issue, but it appears to mark a prominent object that the speaker chooses to make ...

To choose between active and passive voice, consider above all what you are discussing (your topic) and place it in the subject position. For example, should you write "The preprocessor sorts the ...

The voice of the verb is distinct from its tense. Don't confuse the passive voice with the past tense. (Sentence 2 happens to be in the past tense, but 3 is not; both 2 and 3 are in the passive voice.

For example, "The project was completed by me" is passive, while "I completed the project" is active. Passive voice can make your resume sound vague, weak, or impersonal, and reduce the impact of ...

or "An external magnetic field of 4 T was applied as the pressure was increased to 300 kPa." Which is the better way to compose your research; the direct, bold language of active voice, or the ...

Consider this paragraph where the subject ... Here’s another example of how it does this: Where active voice would separate key ideas, passive voice can unite them. Compare these sentences ...