Business Writing Tips from The Writing Center
Using active and passive voice (2)
Jujy 19, 2007
What is the difference
between active and passive voice?
Example:
Active Voice: The man and
woman deliver the report.
Passive Voice: The
report is delivered by the man and woman.
Ask
yourself:
- What is the action being
performed? For example, in the active voice example above, "deliver"
is the action.
- Who or what is performing the
action? In the same example, "The man and woman"
deliver.
In active voice, the subject of the
sentence is the doer of the action. That's why it's called "active"
voice. The subject does the acting.
In passive voice, the subject doesn't
do anything; it is acted upon. In the passive example, the
report does not
deliver.
Or, in other words, active voice puts
the doer into the "spotlight" -- in the power position at the
beginning of the sentence. Passive voice puts the completed action
into the spotlight.
Business writers prefer active voice. How do
you change passive voice to active? We'll discuss that next week.
This edition was adapted from our Effective
Business Writing Program. Previous editions
may be read at
http://www.uliveandlearn.com/newsletters/index.cfm.
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