because active voice is more direct than passive voice and is easier understood. Given the short memory span of the listener / reader it is easier to see the whole picture when active voice is used. Likewise, active sentences are more cohesive.
For example: Mom is cooking pasta (main thought: mom is cooking, natural question is what? which is immediately answered by the word pasta
as against
Pasta is being cooked by mom. (the main thought becomes Pasta is being cooked and the natural question of course will be so what? and not by whom the phrase by mom then somehow loses its relevance)
the cat was injured in a fight passive or active
Sentences written in active voice are clearer and more straightforward than those written in passive voice. In active voice, the subject is doing something rather than having something done to them. An example of passive voice is, "He was reading the book his cousin had written." Active voice may read, "He's reading the book his cousin wrote."
With a passive verb, the subject receives the action.
the passive voice is a grammatical voice in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb. Passive voice emphasizes the process rather than who is performing the action. Passive (or passive verb) refers more generally to verbs using this construction and the passages in which they are used. In English, a passive verb is periphrastic; that is, it does not have a one-word form, but consists of an auxiliary verb plus the past participle of the transitive verb. The auxiliary verb usually is a form of the verb to be, but other auxiliary verbs, such as get, are sometimes used. The passive voice can be used in any number of tenses. The process of changing an active verb into a passive one is called passivization. Passivization is a valence-decreasing process, and it is sometimes referred to as a detranzitivizing process, because it changes transitive verbs into intransitives.
To change "the windows had been washed" into passive voice, you would actually keep it as is, since it is already in passive voice. In this construction, the subject "the windows" receives the action of being washed, and the focus is on the action rather than who performed it. If you wanted to express it in active voice, you could say, "Someone had washed the windows."
Using the active voice rather than passive voice
The sentence "The pen was missing" is in passive voice, as the subject (the pen) is receiving the action (being missing) rather than performing it.
In a formal business letter, active voice emphasizes clarity and directness by placing the subject at the forefront of the sentence, making the message more engaging. For example, "The manager approved the proposal" is active. In contrast, passive voice often obscures the subject and can make the writing less direct, as seen in "The proposal was approved by the manager." While passive voice can be useful for focusing on the action rather than the actor, it is generally more effective to use active voice in business communication for clearer and more impactful messages.
Passive voice should be used when the focus is on the action or the receiver of the action rather than the doer. It is often used in formal writing, scientific papers, or when the doer is unknown or unimportant.
Position papers should be written in the active voice to clearly convey the writer's arguments and viewpoints. The active voice makes the writing more direct, engaging, and persuasive. Passive voice can make sentences longer, more complex, and less engaging to the reader.
The word "sang" is the past tense of the verb "sing," which is an active verb. It indicates that the subject performed the action of singing. Therefore, "sang" is considered active rather than passive.
The active subject is the noun or pronoun that performs the action in a sentence. The passive subject is the noun or pronoun that receives the action in a sentence, rather than performing it.
The phrase "was destroyed" is in the passive voice. In this construction, the subject of the sentence receives the action rather than performing it. The focus is on what happened to the subject rather than who or what did the destroying.
The passive voice must have the verb 'to be' in the correct tense plus the past participle of the main verb. Here are some examples: I do (active)/it is done (passive) I did (active)/it was done (passive) I am doing (active)/it is being done (passive) I was doing (active)/it was being done (passive) and so on A verb is put into the passive voice when we don't know who did the action, we're not interested, or we don't care
This is a passive sentence because the subject (dollars) is being acted upon rather than performing the action.
Planarians are generally considered active organisms. They exhibit notable behaviors such as swimming, crawling, and searching for food, which indicates a level of responsiveness to their environment. Their movement is facilitated by cilia on their bodies and muscular contractions, allowing them to navigate effectively. Thus, planarians actively engage with their surroundings rather than being passive.
Active voice should be used instead of passive voice when the focus is on the subject performing the action, rather than the action being done to the subject.