Active vs. Passive Voice Examples

Why This Matters

Voice isn't just a grammar technicality—it's a strategic tool that controls how readers process information. When you choose active or passive voice, you're deciding what deserves the spotlight: the doer of an action or the receiver of it. This distinction affects everything from sentence clarity to persuasive impact, and it's a concept tested across writing sections, rhetorical analysis, and style revision questions.

You're being tested on your ability to recognize when each voice works best and why a writer might choose one over the other. Don't just memorize the formula for converting between voices—understand the rhetorical effect each creates. Can you identify when passive voice obscures responsibility? When it appropriately emphasizes results over actors? Master these patterns, and you'll handle any voice-related question with confidence.

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The Core Transformation: How Voice Restructures Sentences

Every voice shift involves the same grammatical swap: the subject and object trade places, and the verb phrase changes to include a form of "to be" plus the past participle. Understanding this mechanics helps you spot passive constructions instantly.

The Cat Chased the Mouse

• Subject-verb-object order defines active voice—the doer (cat) comes first, then the action (chased), then the receiver (mouse)
• "Was chased by" signals passive construction—the receiver becomes the grammatical subject while the doer moves to a prepositional phrase
• Focus shifts entirely from predator to prey, changing the sentence's emotional center

John Wrote the Letter

• Active voice credits the doer—John receives immediate attention as the sentence's subject
• "By John" becomes optional in passive voice—the agent can be dropped entirely when identity doesn't matter
• Passive without agent ("The letter was written") is common in formal and academic writing

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Tense Variations: Voice Works Across All Tenses

The active-passive transformation applies regardless of tense, but the passive construction grows more complex as tenses become compound. Each tense adds auxiliary verbs while maintaining the past participle.

The Chef Is Preparing Dinner (Present Progressive)

• "Is being prepared" doubles the auxiliary verbs—present progressive passive requires both "is" and "being"
• Ongoing action emphasis remains in both voices, but passive highlights the meal rather than the cook
• Wordiness increases in passive progressive forms, making active often preferable for clarity

The Company Will Announce the Results Tomorrow (Future)

• "Will be announced" maintains future meaning—the modal "will" stays, and "be" replaces the base verb
• Anticipation shifts from what the company will do to what will happen to the results
• Corporate and news writing often uses future passive to emphasize outcomes over actors

Scientists Have Discovered a New Species (Present Perfect)

• "Has been discovered" shows completed action with present relevance—the perfect aspect survives the transformation
• Discovery emphasis in passive voice suits scientific writing where findings matter more than researchers
• Academic convention often prefers passive to maintain objective, impersonal tone

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Strategic Uses: When Each Voice Serves a Purpose

Voice choice isn't random—skilled writers select active or passive based on what they want readers to notice or feel. Rhetorical context determines which voice works best.

The Teacher Graded the Exams

• Active voice assigns responsibility—readers know exactly who performed the evaluation
• Passive allows agent omission—"The exams were graded" works when the grader's identity is irrelevant or obvious
• Student-focused contexts might prefer passive to emphasize results students care about

The Storm Destroyed Many Houses

• Active voice with non-human agents can personify forces of nature, giving them dramatic power
• Passive voice shifts sympathy—"Many houses were destroyed" centers the victims, not the cause
• News reporting often uses passive to focus on impact and damage rather than blame

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Formal and Professional Contexts: Passive as Convention

Certain fields and situations conventionally prefer passive voice because it creates distance, objectivity, or appropriate emphasis on processes over people. Genre expectations often override general "prefer active" advice.

The Committee Is Reviewing the Proposal

• Bureaucratic passive emphasizes process over personnel—"The proposal is being reviewed" sounds official
• Progressive passive ("is being reviewed") indicates ongoing institutional action
• Accountability questions arise when passive hides who makes decisions

Shakespeare Wrote This Play

• Attribution active voice directly credits creators—useful when authorship matters
• Work-centered passive ("This play was written by Shakespeare") suits discussions focused on the text itself
• Literary analysis often toggles between voices depending on whether the author or work is the topic

The Police Arrested the Suspect

• Legal and journalistic contexts carefully choose voice based on what's established versus alleged
• Passive voice ("The suspect was arrested") can protect presumption of innocence by not leading with police action
• Tension and mystery increase when passive delays or omits the agent

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two examples best illustrate how passive voice can appropriately omit the agent, and why does omission work in those contexts but not others?

2. Compare the passive constructions in "Dinner is being prepared" and "A new species has been discovered"—what makes one sound more natural than the other in standard usage?

3. If an FRQ asks you to analyze a writer's choice to use passive voice in a news article about a natural disaster, which example from this guide would provide the best model for your response?

4. Identify two examples where passive voice serves a professional or conventional purpose rather than just shifting emphasis. What do these contexts have in common?

5. A revision question shows: "The suspect was arrested." It asks whether adding "by the police" improves or weakens the sentence. Using what you've learned about agent inclusion, what factors should guide your answer?