What is the difference between active and passive voice?

Answer 1

Active voice gives you a subject and tells you what the subject is doing. For example, "The teacher runs the classroom." Passive voice puts the object and what the subject does into more of a subject position, i.e. "The classroom is run by the teacher." "Be" verbs are often added to make a sentence passive in addition to the rearrangement of the sentence.

In academic writing, such as essays you write for school, active voice is better because it does not add unnecessary words and keeps the focus on the subject--whatever you are writing about. For lab reports, however, you would use the passive voice, since you are the one doing the action and you cannot use first person (I, we, me) in the lab report. It is also common to see passive voice in the media because it can shift attention or blame away from someone and on to someone or something else.

Answer 2

Active is like Action. Passive is more pacifist

"Danger invites rescue" is a classic legal sentence in a judge's ruling on liability for negligence. It's known for its "ABC's," accurate, brief and clear. It's in the active voice. It's major part is subject and verb, with an active verb.

Jane hit John is in the active voice

John was hit by Jane is passive voice

Active voice highlights the subject. Passive focuses more on the object.

the passive voice is often used to conceal the actor.

It's used in lab reports to hide the chemist who screwed up, making him anonymous

the chemicals were mixed together is passive voice, where you don't know who mixed the chemicals.

The US consulate in Benghazi was attacked is a sentence in the passive voice that conceals who the attackers were.

Ted Bundy did it

is active voice, where you blame a specific person and highlight his identity, unlike the passive voice.

Active voice is briefer more concise, shorter. IF you have page limitations, changing sentences to active voice can make make a substantial difference.

But in general, you can bore the reader with passive voice, put the reader to sleep. Active keeps the reader more interested and awake.

Answer 3

In a simple sentence, an active verb describes an action performed by an "actor" who is the SUBJECT of the verb (and the verb must agree in number, i.e., both singular or both plural); if there is also an OBJECT in the sentence, then that is the target (or "victim") upon whom the action is performed.

¶ The most common "passive" verb is the verb "to be" -- whose other forms include: "is", "am", "are", "were", "was", "has been", "had been", etc. In a passive sentence, the verb connects two things, so one may view the verb as a mathematical "equal" sign: SUBJECT "=" OBJECT. (Note that, if pronouns are used, they must be in SUBJECT case.)

¶ In writing, the "active voice" (using active verbs, which describe an action performed by an actor) is generally preferred, because it is more direct and (usually) easier to understand than the "passive voice" which equates one thing or state of existence to another. For example, the sentences "I drive the car." or "A bug bites him." are both active, whereas "The car is driven by me." or "He gets bitten by a bug."

¶ Note that many so-called "standardized" exams contain "writing" sections that contain many choices that are considered "wrong" because they use the "passive voice" as well as those with redundant or unnecessary detail, plus others that contain grammatical errors such as "subject-verb disagreement in number" or "pronoun case errors" (both of which are mentioned above). Learning about these common errors can help raise your scores on SAT, ACT, GRE, ASVAB, etc. -- as can avoiding the "passive voice" (and preferring the shorter choice when guessing).