What is the difference between active and passive voice?
Active voice occurs when the subject performs the action of the verb, while passive voice occurs when the subject receives the action. Active voice tends to be more direct and clearer, while passive voice emphasizes the action or the receiver rather than the doer.
Steps
Identify the subject, verb, and object in your sentence. The subject is who or what the sentence is about, the verb is the action, and the object receives the action.
In active voice, arrange the sentence so the subject does the action to the object. Follow the pattern: subject + verb + object.
In passive voice, arrange the sentence so the subject receives the action. The object becomes the subject, and you typically use a form of 'to be' plus the past participle of the main verb.
Notice that passive voice often includes 'by' to indicate who performed the action, but the doer can be omitted entirely if unknown or unimportant.
Choose active voice for most writing because it's stronger and clearer, but use passive voice when the action matters more than who did it, or when the doer is unknown.
Worked example
Active voice: The dog chased the cat. Here, the dog (subject) performs the action of chasing. Passive voice: The cat was chased by the dog. Here, the cat (now the subject) receives the action of being chased. You could also write 'The cat was chased,' leaving out who did the chasing entirely.
Remember
Active voice puts the doer first and makes your writing clearer and more direct, while passive voice puts the receiver first and works best when the action itself is most important.