What is the Active Voice?
When you are reading a blog post, an article or even a book, do you want the writer to be clear and the writing to have forward motion? Do you ever start skimming a blog post or article, and the writer spends more time describing an incident or pertinent information verses telling the point.
Who wants to see an action movie without in any action? What's the point?
Active voice keeps the reader moving along. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, in a sentence using active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb.
Basic Sentence Structure:
Subject ~ Verb ~ Object
Active Voice Sentence:
Using the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb.
Mary wrote a blog post.
I have damaged your car.
What is the Passive Voice?
In a sentence using passive voice, the subject is acted upon; he or she receives the action expressed by the verb. The agent performing the action may appear in a "by the..." phrase or may be omitted. (Chicago Manual of Style)
The blog post was written by Mary
Your car has been damaged.
Which is the best one to chose?
Active voice is the most preferred method of writing. There is a great debate as to which voice is better. Until the early twentieth century passive voice was recommended. In 1918 William Strunk, Jr released The Elements of Style.
In the original 1918 edition of The Elements of Style, Cornell University Professor of English William Strunk, Jr. warned against excessive use of the passive voice:
The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive . . . This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary . . . The need to make a particular word the subject of the sentence will often . . . determine which voice is to be used. The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible writing. This is true not only in narrative concerned principally with action, but in writing of any kind. Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is or could be heard.
Keep it moving!
Active voice provides a clear path for your readers to join you. Inspire them with stories, illustraions and useful statistics.
Take them on the journey with you.
Show your action don't tell about it.
Active voice provides a clear path for your readers to join you. Inspire them. #TheWriteCoach
Don't Bore Your Readers
Passive voice in most cases is not as interesting to read, however it depends on who is your audience, and what style you are writing. There are places it is appropriate and necessary.
Passive voice is useful to highlight the action instead the person or thing performing the action. Writers in the sciences use passive voice, because the performing agent is obvious, unimportant, or unknown.
For more detailed information about Active Voice Verses Passive Voice go to the Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition.
Active Voice vs. Passive Voice ~ Show your action don't tell about it. #TheWriteCoach
