Active vs Passive Voice: How to Tell the Difference
Identify active and passive voice, rewrite passive sentences, and decide when passive is the better choice, with two worked examples.
How to tell
- Active: the subject does the action
- Passive: the subject receives the action
- Passive often uses was/were/is + past participle
Test: add 'by zombies' after the verb. If it works, it is passive.
Example 1
Rewrite in active voice: 'The ball was thrown by Mia.'
- Find who does the action: Mia
- Make Mia the subject
Mia threw the ball.
Example 2
Rewrite in active voice: 'Mistakes were made.'
- The doer is missing
- Name the doer to be clear
The committee made mistakes.
Common mistake
Passive voice is always wrong
Use passive when the doer is unknown or unimportant.
Use passive in science writing: 'The solution was heated.'
Use active most of the time for clear, direct writing.
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