A common problem for students and others who write is using passive voice rather than active voice. Using a passive to active voice converter enables people to identify the voice being used and change to the one most appropriate.
Passive Voice FAQ: Passive Sentence Checker to Detect Passive Voice
Q: What is the difference between active and passive voice? What is the formula of active and passive voice?
A: In general active voice is preferred over passive voice when writing but both have their place. The main difference between active voice and passive voice is that when writing in active voice emphasis is placed on the person or thing that is performing an action. When writing in passive voice the emphasis is shifted to the recipient of the action or sometimes the action itself. The following are the basic formulas for active and passive voice.
- Active voice: [Subject (person or thing performing the action)] + [Verb (action performed)] + [Object (recipient of the action)]
- Passive voice: [Subject (recipient of the action)] + [some form of the verb to be] + [past participle of a transitive verb] + [optional prepositional phrase]
The object in active voice becomes the subject in passive voice.
Q: What are the examples of active and passive voice?
A: The following are some examples of active and passive voice:
- Example 1:
- Passive voice: The flat tire was changed by Joe.
- Active voice: Joe changed the flat tire.
- Example 2:
- Passive voice: The office will be cleaned every night by the janitorial staff.
- Active voice: The janitorial staff will clean the office every night.
Q: Is it okay to use passive voice in writing?
A: Active voice is typically preferred to passive voice because it makes your writing stronger and more direct, thus more engaging. However, using passive voice isn’t technically a grammar error and sometimes it is preferable to active voice. Reasons for using the passive voice include:
- When the subject is unknown. The passive voice may be used when we don’t know who performed the action. “My wallet was stolen” is passive because we don’t know who stole the wallet
- To remain anonymous. When you want the subject to remain anonymous you can use the passive voice. It is often used to avoid assigning blame. You may want to use the passive “The window was broken” rather than “I broke the window”.
- To demonstrate objectivity. In some papers, it is important that the writer remain objective. Using the passive voice gives the appearance of being more objective when presenting information
- When the action or object is more important. “The dam was built in 1937” is a passive sentence. It isn’t important for the reader to know who built it.
- To vary sentence structure. If every sentence is written the same way it could become a little boring for the reader. Occasional mixing in a sentence in passive voice for variety is okay as long as it doesn’t interrupt the flow of your text.
Q: How do I identify passive voice?
A: To identify passive voice in a sentence take a look at the action and who or what is responsible for performing that action. If the person or thing that performed the action isn’t in the sentence it is passive voice. Also if the person or thing responsible for the action occurs in the sentence following the action and if there is a past participle immediately after the form of “to be” it is passive voice. An alternative is to use a passive sentence checker to examine your sentence.
Q: How to translate sentences to passive voice? Are there any useful techniques?
A: When you want to convert the sentence to passive voice from active voice follow these steps:
- Move the object (the recipient of the action) to the beginning of the sentence
- Add a form of the verb “to be” before the main verb in the sentence. The tense of the “to be” verb should be the same as your main verb within the active sentence
- Make use of the main verb’s past participle in the active sentence as the verb is the passive sentence
- Add the preposition “by” before the subject (person or thing performing the action)
Some techniques that can help in converting sentences to passive voice include:
- Rather than adding “by” remove the subject from the sentence altogether
- Learn the different tense forms of the verb “to be”
Q: Can I correct passive voice in a sentence?
A: Yes, you can fix passive voice in your text. The way how to correct passive voice in a sentence is to rewrite the sentence so that the subject comes before the verb. It sounds pretty simple and for some it is, but for others restructuring a sentence can be difficult. If you are unsure how to change a sentence from passive to active you may want to use a sentence changer generator like ours to help you.
Q: Is passive voice checker secure and reliable?
A: Our website to reformat passive voice sentences is completely secure. Your paper or document is never made available anywhere online nor is it provided to any other databases to ensure nobody plagiarizes your work. The passive voice detector is also very reliable and identifies passive voice sentences with a high degree of accuracy. The suggested adjustments made by the active voice generator are also dependable.
An Overview of Our Passive Voice to Active Voice Converter Tool
Identifying and changing passive voice to active is a problem for many people. If you are unsure how to make a passive sentence active then we are here to help. Our active to passive sentence converter software can detect both active and passive voice and is capable of converting from active to passive voice or from passive to active. In addition to its voice detection and conversion abilities there are many other revision and editing features our passive sentence finder provides:
- Grammar checker. You can check for a wide variety of grammar errors using our tool. Sentence fragments, run-on sentences, pronoun disagreement, verb tense issues and many other types of grammar mistakes are identified. The sentence fixer also recommends corrections to fix the errors
- Punctuation checker. All punctuation mistakes are identified and corrections provided
- Tone detector. The editing tool examines your text for tone and suggests adjustments you can make so that your paper strikes just the right tone with readers
- Spelling checker. All words in your paper or document are checked for spelling mistakes. Correct spelling is provided for the misspelled words that are detected.
- Paraphrase tool. Our sentence reworder can rephrase and restructure your text for both clarity and to avoid potential plagiarism issues
- Plagiarism checker. The checker compares your paper to billions of documents and web pages looking for text that is too similar. Similar text is identified so that you can make any required changes or include citations to avoid inadvertently plagiarizing.
The multiple features our passive voice finder provides make it an outstanding tool to use for proofreading, revision and editing tasks. In addition there are some other benefits of using our tool:
- Saves time. It can take hours to proofread and edit a paper for passive voice and other problems. Our writing tool can perform a complete analysis of your text, including recommended corrections in around a minute or less depending on document length
- Free. You can use our writing tool for free which is definitely easy on the budget
- Works on any type of document. You can use our tool to proofread, revise and edit any type of paper including essays, dissertations and other academic papers, blog posts, articles, emails, letters or any type of text that requires proofreading and editing
Our sentence fixer is especially popular with students but bloggers, freelance writers, business people or anybody who writes can benefit by using our online writing tool.
Using Our Active Voice Translator
Getting started with our passive voice changer is simple. When you have text you want to proofread and edit for passive voice or anything else just follow these steps.
- Copy and paste your text into the provided field. You may also type text directly into the field
- Start the paper analysis. Click the button to begin analyzing your paper
- Receive your report. You will receive a detailed report identifying passive voice use and any other problems and mistakes in your text. The report includes recommended corrections and adjustments
- Make the suggested corrections and changes to your text
After making all the recommended corrections and changes you will have a well written and error free paper ready for submission.
Try our passive to active voice converter on your next assignment for a well-polished paper in the appropriate voice!
