Aug | 23 | 2008

The Active And Passive Voice

Posted by Jimmy as Tips, Writing

It’s ok, don’t panic. We are not going back to grades school English grammar lessons. I just thought that it would be good to have a refresher post on this topic as it would make a big difference on your writing. So which is which?

The active voice is the sentence structure wherein the subject actually does the action. Here are some examples of sentences in the active voice:

The girl hit her brother.
The girl is the subject and she performs the action, which is to hit.

Writers have expressed their concerns to the authorities.
Writers is the subject and they have performed the action, which is to express their concern.

On the other hand, the passive voice is the structure wherein the subject receives the action. Here is an example of a sentence in the passive voice.

The boy was hit by his sister.
The boy is the subject and he received the action, which was the hit.

Now that the difference between the two voices is clear, which voice is better to use when writing your blog posts? I would suggest using the active voice. There are several reasons for this.

One, sentences in the passive voice seem flatter and thus less interesting. This is a no no in blog writing. You want to be able to catch your readers’ attention and engage them all throughout your post. As such, using the active voice would achieve better results in this regard.

Another reason to use the active voice is that sentences in this voice are usually clearer and less awkward. This translates to easier reading for your visitors. Now wouldn’t you want that?

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