Active And Passive Voice

Who Done It?

In most sentences, the subject performs the action: 'The dog chased the ball.' This is called the active voice because the subject is active. But we can rearrange the sentence to focus on the receiver of the action: 'The ball was chased by the dog.' This is the passive voice. The passive voice is a powerful tool, but it can also make writing weak and unclear if overused. This chapter will teach you how to switch between these voices and, more importantly, when to choose one over the other.

In the active voice, the subject does the action. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action.