Introducing Passive Voice

In most cases and with most styles of writing, the active voice is preferred to the passive voice. The active voice is stronger than the passive, and it therefore produces more powerful sentences.If the subject of the sentence is the person or thing doing the action, then the verb is in active voice.

Examples:

• My boss made the decision yesterday
• Doug coordinated the meeting in Paul's absence
• We proposed the change last week
• The computer just crashed

If the subject of the sentence is the person or thing receiving the action, then the verb is in passive voice. The passive voice is created by writing a form of the verb to be with the past participle form of a verb. Such forms often include a by phrase after the verb phrase to indicate who performed the action. In addition to being less direct, the passive voice is also generally wordier than the active voice.

Examples:

• The decision was made by my boss yesterday
• The meeting was coordinated by Doug in Paul's absence
• The changewas was proposed (by us) last week