This handout is also available for download in PDF format. We refer to a sentence as being in the "active voice" when the subject is performing the action of the sentence (the verb). A sentence is in ...

For many writers, feedback that your copy is "too passive" can be frustrating. The passive voice is, after all, grammatically correct. But there's a reason that public relations and communications ...

“Never use a long word where a short one will do. If it is possible to cut a word out always cut it out. Never use the passive voice where you can use the active.” —George Orwell Note: The above is ...