Active vs. Passive Voice

When we write using active voice, it’s clear who did what. The doer” of the sentence comes before the verb, and there’s no ambiguity. 

Passive voice happens when the doer” of a given action is placed after the verb (or even left out entirely!), and we need to use a form of to be” with the action. Using passive voice introduces vague language, can cause confusion, and ultimately weakens the impact of your writing.

At Hudl, we use active voice as much as possible. It shows conviction! Energy! Pizzaz!

The ball was thrown out of bounds.

An announcement will be made by the coach next week.

The meeting has been pushed to tomorrow.

Don’t use passive voice.

Jared threw the ball out of bounds.

The coach will make an announcement next week.

I pushed the meeting to tomorrow.

Do be intentional and use active voice as much as possible.

Last Updated: 5 May 2020 at 2:22pm CDT