The difference between active and passive voice

The difference between active and passive voice

An active sentence is one in which an agent or actor (subject) does something (verb) to a person or thing (object):

The professor [subject] wrote [verb] a textbook [object].

For a passive sentence, the reverse is true – the subject has something done to it by an agent:

The textbook [subject] was written [verb] by the professor [agent].

Passive voice is often used because it takes the agent out of the process, making the text sound more ‘objective’. Often, the agent is not even specified:

The ball was kicked. [by whom?]

Experiments were conducted [by whom?] to test the humidity of the cabinet.

An increased level of salinity was observed. [by whom?]

In the past, in an effort to appear objective or to avoid saying who was doing things, researchers and government staff institutionalised this style as the ‘correct’ way to write:

The study was conducted over 3 months.

The funding to the program was cut.

See Moving away from the impersonal for further discussion of this issue and how this approach is now changing.

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