Gotcha Grammar: Active vs. Passive Voice

Due to popular demand, Gotcha Grammar is back to share common grammatical errors keeping your business from succeeding online! In this edition, we will discuss the difference between active and passive voice and why you should primarily use active voice in your business writing.

What is active voice?

Active voice is straightforward language, often using action verbs, that gives the reader a clear understanding of the speaker and the action in a particular statement. We are a big proponent of doing things that match your business personality. However, you should aim to use active voice as much as possible when speaking to clients and sharing information online so that your audience sees you as an expert and clearly understands your products and services.

What is passive voice?

Passive or indirect voice makes your reader unsure of the authority. You need to make your business’s role in a statement abundantly clear so that your clients do not get lost in prepositional phrases and vague anecdotes. Passive language unnecessarily complicates and lengthens your writing. However, there are a few occasions when it is okay to use passive voice. These occasions include emphasizing the action instead of the actor, keeping the subject consistent throughout the passage, and tactfully avoiding naming the doer or describing an instance in which the doer is unknown or unimportant.

Here are a few examples and tips for changing the active to passive:

Put the doer before the verb:

            Example of passive: The permits must have pulled by the contractor.

            Example of active: The contractor pulled the permits.

The passive example leaves room for doubt. The active example shows concisely that “she” is the doer in the statement.

Drop part of the verb:

            Example of passive: The patient was being seen by the doctor.

            Example of active: The doctor saw the patient.

The passive example shows the sentence to be unnecessarily long. The active shortens the statement for simplicity and readability by putting the doer in the beginning of the statement and shortening the verb.

Change the verb:

            Example of passive: The papers are being stored in the filing cabinet.

            Example of active:  The papers appear in the filing cabinet.

Look for concise action verbs to replace the usage of passive verbs.

We hope this blog helps you to become more concise in your business writing. For our small business marketing packages or a complimentary marketing analysis, feel free to call us at (770) 447-1114. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And be on the lookout for more Gotcha Grammar editions!