Active and Passive Sentences

You probably have been told at some point in your school career that you should write in the active voice or that you should write active sentences, that they are in some way more desirable than passive sentences. Well, thats not always correct. Whether you choose to write in the active voice or the passive voice depends entirely on what you choose to reveal or emphasize in the sentences you write. The passive voice is more desirable than the active voice in certain situations. The trick is in deciding what those situations are. So, what is voice anyway? Voice is simply the name we have given to a grammatical choice we can make in sentence structurewhether we want the subject of a sentence to be the doer of the action in the sentence or whether we want the subject of the sentence to be the receiver of the action. Or another way to look at it is do we want the verb to describe what the subject does or to describe something that is done to the subject? Consider the following sentences. Jack broke the window. In this sentence the subject (Jack) does the action (broke), or the other way to say it is that the verb (broke) describes what the subject (Jack) does. We say that this sentence is active or in the active voice because the subject is activethe subject does something. Now lets consider another way to arrange this sentence. The window was broken by Jack. Obviously this sentence contains the same information as the original sentence, but it has been rearranged. Now the subject of the sentence (window) doesnt do the actionit receives the action, is acted upon (was broken). Or we can say that the verb (was broken) describes something that was done to the subject (window). This sentence is in the passive voice because the subject of the sentence is passive. So what? What difference does it make? Well, for one thing, notice that in the passive sentence we dont find out who does the action until the end of the sentence, and by moving that information to the end, we redistribute the emphasis in the sentence. Now we emphasize window by virtue of its position at the beginning of the sentence. Obviously that would be useful if we wanted for some reason to emphasize window or wanted to delay our readers knowledge that it was Jack who broke the window. But there is another peculiarity of the passive voice that we havent looked at yetand that is that it allows us to completely hide who does the action. Consider the following sentence. The window was broken.

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In this sentence we have completely eliminated the information about who did the breaking. Those of us who have ever done anything we werent supposed to do can see the obvious advantage to being able to write this kind of sentence. We dont have to acknowledge that we did whatever it was that we did wrong. But this kind of passive sentence is useful in other situations as well. For instance, it lets us focus only on the action itself when that is the most important issue. Additionally, it allows us to talk about some wrong or undesirable action without assessing blame. In other words, it lets us talk about undesirable actions while allowing the person who did them to save face. We can allow that person to keep his or her dignity. And we can be seen as being very courteous, which is almost always a desirable outcome. By hiding the actor, this kind of sentence allows us also to create or maintain an air of mystery when that seems to be called for. We can also use this kind of sentence when we dont know who did the action. So, you see in certain situations the passive sentence is not only useful, its necessary. But most of the time, the active sentence (when the subject of the sentence does the action) is the best choice. It has certain advantages in most situations. Because it tells us immediately who did what, it creates an air of energy and confidence. It allows us to give all the important information directly, so it has great force, and unlike the passive sentence, it demystifies the situation. It clarifies rather than mystifies. We can see the advantages to using the active voice in most of the sentences we write. It seems useful at this point to talk about how passive and active sentences are constructed. Lets begin with the active sentence John broke the window. Notice that it has a subject (John) followed by an active verb (broke) which is itself followed by a direct object, something that receives the action of the verb (the window). In order to convert this sentence into its passive form, we must do four things: (1). Move the direct object (the window) to the subject position at the beginning of the sentence (2). Move the original subject (John) to the end of the sentence and put by before it, or eliminate it altogether (3) Change the verb form from past tense (broke) to its past participle (broken) (4) And add a form of to be (in this case was) as a helping verb to broken. If we complete all four steps we end up with the passive sentence The window was broken by John. To convert a passive sentence to an active one, we simply reverse the process. (1) Move the direct object (window) to its regular position behind the verb (2) Move the original subject (John) back to the subject position at the beginning of the sentence (3) Change the verb from the past participle (broken) to the past tense (broke) (4) Remove the helping verb was. We have restored the sentence to its active voicewe have made the subject the doer of the action again.

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Exercise 1
1. List the advantages of using active sentences.

2.

List the situations when you might want to use a passive sentence or sentences.

Exercise 2
Lets get some practice manipulating the active and passive voices. The next ten sentences are written in the active voice. Revise them so that they are passive. 1. When the screwball entered the strike zone, Paul tattooed it. 2. The managers of the company entered into negotiations with the labor unions. 3. A complete sentence contains a subject and a verb. 4. Jack failed to send the check to the bank on time, so he lost his house. 5. Summer finished her book and sold it to the highest bidder. 6. Travelers always enjoy stopping by the old mill and taking a picture. 7. Jackson writes all his class notes on a legal pad and transcribes them onto the computer. 8. The university issues traffic permits to all its new students every semester. 9. The community council decided that a leash law should be passed before summer. 10. The tutors stayed way after quitting time to finish the stack of papers.

Possible answers (more than one answer is possible) (1.) The screwball was tattooed by Paul when it entered the strike zone. (2.) Negotiations with the labor unions were entered into by the managers of the company. (3.) A subject and a verb are contained in a complete sentence. (4). Jacks house was lost because the check was not sent to the bank on time. (5.) Summers book was finished by her and sold to the highest bidder. (6.) Stopping by the old mill and taking a picture is an activity often enjoyed by travelers. (7.) All of Jacksons class notes are written on a legal pad and transcribed onto the computer. (8.) Traffic permits are issued to new students every semester by the university. (9.) It was decided by the community council that a leash law should be passed before summer. (10.) The stack of papers were finished by the tutors way after quitting time.

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The next ten sentences are written in the passive voice; change them to active. (You may have to create an actor.) 1. The check was received and filed appropriately. 2. The decision was made and ratified by the whole council. 3. Several special provisions were included in the contract. 4. The ice cream was eaten while the children were waiting for the park to open. 5. The question was answered by the class clown before the serious students had a chance at it. 6. The corpse was moved from the murder scene sometime between Sunday night and Monday afternoon. 7. The cattle were released accidentally when the gate was left open. 8. The two weeks notice policy was created to give employers a time cushion. 9. Fermentation was begun when the sugar was added to the fruit juice. 10. The alcohol was subsequently consumed by the fifteen fraternity brothers.

Possible answers (more than one answer may be possible) (1.) Vince received and filed the check appropriately. (2.) The whole council made and ratified the decision. (3.) The contract included several special provisions. (4.) The children ate the ice cream while waiting for the park to open. (5.) The class clown answered the question before the serious students had a chance at it. (6.) The murderer moved the corpse from the murder scene sometime between Sunday night and Monday afternoon. (7.) The cattle fled the ranch when Renee accidentally left the gate open. (8.) Employers created the two weeks notice policy to allow themselves time cushion. (9.) When Sandra added sugar to the fruit juice, the fermentation process began. (10.) Fifteen fraternity brothers subsequently consumed the alcohol.

Copyright 2003 by the Academic Center and the University of Houston-Victoria. Revised 2005 by Sandra Heinold.

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