Active and Passive Voice

Active and Passive Voice

·         Active Voice

In active voice, the subject performs the action expressed by the verb:

-      The student wrote a song.

S + V + O + adjective/adverb

Examples of the sentences:

1.       Agus gives Rany a present in her birthday.

2.       They punched the thief yesterday.

3.       You wrote application letter for our company.

4.       Andy kicks the ball.

·         Passive Voice

In passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed by the verb:

-      A song was written by the student.

S + to be + V_III + by + O + Adjective/adverb

Examples of the sentences:

1.       The ball is kicked by Andy.

2.       Rany is given a present in her birthday by Agus.

3.       The thief was punched by them yesterday.

4.       Application letter was written by me for your company.

Active and Passive Voice in Writing

The choice between using the active or passive voice in writing is a matter of style, not correctness. However, most handbooks recommend using active voice, which they describe as more natural, direct, lively, and succinct. The passive voice is considered wordy and weak (except when used in cases above).

Examine the following examples:

• passive: The skater was slammed into the wall by Maria.

active: Maria slammed the skater into the wall.

• passive: The book was enjoyed by me because the events of her childhood were described so well by the author.

active: I enjoyed the book because the author described the events of her childhood so well.