Understanding Active and Passive Voice in Writing
Active and passive voice are two important concepts in writing that determine whether the subject or object performs the action of the verb. This tutorial by Alice Frye, Ph.D., explains the goals, differences, and applications of active and passive voice in psychology writing. By the end of the tutorial, you'll be able to recognize, understand, and make use of both voices effectively.
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Use of Passive and Active Voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 1
Steps in this tutorial 1) State the goals of this tutorial 2) What are active and passive voice 3) Examples of active and passive voice 4) How they differ 5) How we use them in psychology writing 6) How to change passive to active voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 2
Goal To explain what active and passive voice are in writing To explain why active voice is usually the better choice for science writing To help you learn how to write with active voice instead of passive voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 3
Objectives By the end of this tutorial you should be able to Articulate what passive and active voice are Recognize them in writing Understand how we use them in psychology writing Change passive voice phrasing to active voice in your own writing Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 4
What are Active and Passive voice? Active and passive voice refers to whether the subject or the object in the sentence performs the action of the verb In active voice the subject performs the action of the verb In passive voice the object performs the action of the verb Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 5
Active Voice The subject performs the action of the verb Example: The student presented the talk. The subject The action of the verb Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 6
Active Voice The subject performs the action of the verb Example: The article summarized the research The subject The action of the verb Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 7
Passive Voice The object performs the action of the verb The talk was presented by the student The action of the verb The object Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 8
Passive Voice The object performs the action of the verb Example: The research was summarized by the article The object The action of the verb Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 9
How do Active and Passive voice Differ? The examples just shown are the same in terms of what actually happens In both cases the student did the presenting In both cases the article did the summarizing So how are they different? Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 10
How do Active and Passive Voice Differ? Active voice is direct The subject directly acts on the object The tone is clear and immediate As if you throw a ball directly at a target The target gets all the force of the ball Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 11
Active Voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 12
How do Active and Passive voice differ? Passive voice is indirect The subject is acted ON by the object The tone is roundabout As if you bounce a ball off a wall to hit a target The wall and the target both get some of the force of the ball So the impact is not as strong or clear Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 13
Passive Voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 14
Using Active and Passive Voice in Psychology Writing APA recommends the use of active rather than passive voice Good writing usually uses both active and passive voice Active voice is very direct, so if you use it all the time, the reader may feel a bit like she is being hollered at Passive voice is indirect, so if you use it all the time the reader will have a hard time following your argument Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 15
Using Active and Passive Voice in Psychology Writing Psychology writing is objective Writing should be clear We don t want to make the reader work too hard If you aren t certain which voice to use, you are probably better off choosing active voice, rather than passive voice. But it is ideal if you can use some of each Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 16
Changing Passive to Active Voice- Example Here is a bad example of using passive voice in a psychology paper Depression has been researched by scientists for decades. There is no reason to use passive voice, it makes the sentence harder to follow. A preferred version uses active voice: Scientists have researched depression for decades. Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 17
Changing Passive to Active Voice- Example 2 Here is a 2nd bad example of using passive voice in a psychology paper Surveys were handed out to participants by research assistants. This sentence makes the research process sound rather mysterious. A preferred version uses active voice: Research assistants handed surveys out to the participants. Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 18
Summary This tutorial presented and explained the differences between active and passive voice in writing It explained why active voice is generally preferred And noted that APA recommends the use of active voice It gave examples of how to change typical sentences from passive to active voice Created by Alice Frye, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 19
