Question

Overusing this voice makes your writing sound weak
active voice

passive voice

Answer 1

Passive voice.

Why: Overusing the passive tends to hide the actor, reduce immediacy, and make sentences wordier and less direct — which readers often perceive as weak.

Quick definitions and examples
- Active: subject performs the action. — "The researcher conducted the experiment."
- Passive: subject receives the action (often uses a form of "be" + past participle). — "The experiment was conducted (by the researcher)."

How to spot passive
- Look for forms of be (is, was, were, are, been) + past participle.
- A trailing "by ..." often signals passive: "was written by," "were approved by."

How to fix or improve
- Make the actor the subject: "The researcher conducted the experiment."
- Delete unnecessary "by" phrases when actor is unimportant, or rephrase to an active construction.
- Prefer active for clarity and energy; use passive selectively.

When passive is OK
- Actor is unknown: "The documents were destroyed."
- You want to de-emphasize the actor: "Mistakes were made."
- In methods sections of scientific writing where focus is on the procedure, not the actor.

Quick conversions
- Passive: "The report was submitted by Maria." → Active: "Maria submitted the report."
- Passive: "Errors were found in the code." → Active: "We found errors in the code." (or keep passive if actor must be omitted)
- Passive: "A decision was reached." → Active: "The board reached a decision."

If you want, paste a sentence and I’ll rewrite it in active voice.