Active and passive voice

The rule in one minute

Voice shows who does the action in a sentence. In the active voice, the subject does the action: The committee approved the plan. The doer, the committee, comes first.

In the passive voice, the subject receives the action: The plan was approved by the committee. Now the plan comes first, and the doer moves to the end or disappears.

To spot the passive, look for a form of to be (is, was, were, has been) plus a past participle, such as was approved, is being repaired or had been forgotten.

Because the doer can disappear, The vase was broken never says who broke it. Sometimes that is useful. Sometimes it hides the answer.

Why voice affects your marks

The active voice is usually shorter and easier to follow. It suits most narrative, argument and analysis.

Too many passives make writing flat and wordy. Things happen, but nobody seems to do them. This can keep a piece out of the higher bands for expression.

So you do not need to avoid the passive. Make the active your default, and use the passive only when it helps.

Examples

• Wordy passive: A decision was made by the panel to postpone the event. Better active: The panel decided to postpone the event.
• Weak passive: Mistakes were made during the project. Better active: The team made mistakes during the project.
• Good passive: The temple was built centuries ago. The builders are unknown, so the passive fits.
• Good passive: The results will be announced next week. The results matter more than who announces them.
• Too heavy: It was felt by many that the rules had been changed unfairly. Better: Many felt the rules had been changed unfairly.

Try it yourself

Decide whether each sentence is better in the active voice. Rewrite it if so, then check below.

1. The award was won by a student from our school.
2. The bridge was closed after the flood.
3. A great deal of noise was being made by the crowd.
4. The letter was written by my grandmother during the war.

Answers: (1) Active is stronger: A student from our school won the award. (2) The passive is fine, because who closed the bridge does not matter. (3) Active is clearer: The crowd was making a great deal of noise. (4) Both work. The passive keeps the letter as the focus, but My grandmother wrote the letter during the war is more direct.

Make it a habit

When you edit, treat every passive as a choice. Ask one question: is the doer unknown, unimportant or deliberately hidden?

If yes, keep the passive. If no, put the doer first. The sentence usually becomes shorter and clearer.

Watch for empty passives such as Mistakes were made and It was decided. Markers read these as vague.

In an argument, naming who did something makes your point stronger. In a story, active verbs give energy.

Where students get stuck, and how we help

Students often write long passive sentences because they sound formal. In our writing paper lessons, a teacher marks your own essays, shows which passives to change, and explains which ones to keep.

You can book a paid one-hour trial to try this. Lessons start from RM70/hr.

Next step

Practise changing sentences in our practice area. Then use the proofreading guide on a recent essay. For more grammar, read about modal verbs and double negatives.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to use the rule in your own writing. Our IGCSE English tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.