Active and Passive Voice

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Graphics for this handout were produced by Michelle Hansard.

Active Voice

In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts.

In each example above, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb.You can see examples of all the verb tenses in active voice at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_tenses2.html.

Passive Voice

In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the . . ." phrase or may be omitted.

(agent performing action has been omitted.)

Sometimes the use of passive voice can create awkward sentences, as in the last example above. Also, overuse of passive voice throughout an essay can cause your prose to seem flat and uninteresting. In scientific writing, however, passive voice is more readily accepted since using it allows one to write without using personal pronouns or the names of particular researchers as the subjects of sentences (see the third example above).