I proposed a new plan of action in passive voice

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. Writing for a broad audience can be difficult, especially if the goal is to explain tasks or new information. For this reason, many writers—and readers—prefer plain style, which emphasizes the readers' needs. Plain style is reader-friendly because it's clear, concise, and precise; it uses short, action-driven sentences free of jargon to make language accessible and easy to understand. That's likely why readers across a wide variety of audiences prefer it, but plain style also has other benefits, like making documents more cost-effective and easier to update. We’veidentified a few best practices to help you write inplain style: • Keep it brief Short sentences are less likely to confuse readers because they tend to be less complicated and ambiguous. For task-oriented information, try to limit your sentences to about 20 words ; f or conceptual information, about 25 words . ✕ With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a WYSIWYG editor environment, and at the same time use all the functionality of SAS/ IntrNet software in your Web pages. (35 words) ✔ With design-time controls, you control the look and feel of your Web pages in a WYSIWYG editor environment. ...

• • What is passive voice? In English, all sentences are in either “active” or “passive” voice: active: Werner Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in 1927. passive: The uncertainty principle was formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927. In an active sentence, the person or thing responsible for the action in the sentence comes first. In a passive sentence, the person or thing acted on comes first, and the actor is added at the end, introduced with the preposition “by.” The passive form of the verb is signaled by a form of “to be”: in the sentence above, “was formulated” is in passive voice while “formulated” is in active. In a passive sentence, we often omit the actor completely: The uncertainty principle was formulated in 1927. When do I use passive voice? In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly acceptable. You might use it in the following cases: • The actor is unknown: The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age. [We don’t know who made them.] • The actor is irrelevant: An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert. [We are not interested in who is building it.] • You want to be vague about who is responsible: Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!] • You are talking about a general truth: Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.] • You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main topic: Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers ...

Summary: This handout will explain the difference between active and passive voice in writing. It gives examples of both, and shows how to turn a passive sentence into an active one. Also, it explains how to decide when to choose passive voice instead of active. If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb. Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly. Sometimes you will need to infer the agent from the surrounding sentences which provide context. If you want to change an active-voice sentence to passive voice, consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb, and then make that agent the object of a by the...phrase. Make what is acted upon the subject of the sentence, and change the verb to a form of be + past participle. Including an explicit by the... phrase is optional.

Learning how to change passive sentences to active voice is a skill all writers need. In most instances, all you need to do is move the subject before the verb. In a passive sentence, there is often the operator word, by before the object. But without one, it can be unclear who or what performs the action. For example, the book was written in 1972. You could write, the book was written in 1972 by Tom Smith, which is clearer. But in the active voice, it reads much better and is more concise. Tom Smith wrote the book in 1972. Summary Changing passive sentences to active If you are new to writing, you probably use a writing or grammar checker to help you. It’s a great way to learn and polish your writing skills. Many of these apps highlight You might try searching for a free passive to active voice converter online to make it easy. But unfortunately, I have never found one that works. ( Update: Here’s how to However, But if you don’t have the app, you can quickly change most sentences you write in passive to active voice once you learn how to do it. Anytime you see the verb to be in any tense, followed by a past participle and perhaps using the operator by, it is a passive voice structure. Look at these typical examples. All you need to do is move the subject of the sentence to the beginning before the verb. In an active sentence, it is always the subject at the beginning of the sentence that performs the action of the verb. Change passive sentences without an operator Howeve...

What Is Passive Voice? • The voice of a verb refers to the subject that is performing the verb, or the subject that is having the verb done to them. • The passive voice structure is direct object-verb-subject. • Unlike active voice, passive sentences emphasize the result of the action. ○ Active: The bird ate the seeds. ○ Passive: The seeds were eaten by the bird. To know when you should or shouldn’t use passive voice, you must first understand what it is. Passive voice is when a sentence puts the direct object before the verb, and the subject after the verb. In other words, a passive sentence emphasizes the results (or the recipient) of the action, instead of the subject that committed the action. Usually, the active voice is the safer bet and results in clearer, more direct writing. However, there are a few circumstances where passive voice is appropriate. If you’re scratching your head and still asking yourself what passive voice is, don’t panic. You will learn everything you need to know about passive voice after reading this article. A passive sentence can sometimes be unnecessarily wordy. What Is Passive Voice? To thoroughly understand passive voice, you should know the subject, verb, and direct object of a sentence. Let’s do a quick review: The school’s basketball team won the championship game. In this sentence, the school’s basketball team is the subject (the person, place, or thing that performs the action). The verb (the word that refers to the action or state of...

Take a sentence like “I want ice cream now.” It’s clear and straightforward—you know immediately that the subject, I , wants an object, ice cream . Now, recast this sentence, flipping it so that the object is in the position of the subject: “Ice cream is wanted by me now.” It isn’t just longer, but it’s also more detached, roundabout, and a little awkward, too. Those two sentences are examples of the active voice and the passive voice. Certain kinds of writing are best suited for the active voice, while the passive voice is most appropriate for other kinds of writing. Understanding how, when, and why to use each is key to being an effective writer and speaker. Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What is active voice, what is passive voice, and what are their different functions? In the active voice, the subject is performing an action: The dog chases the ball. Notice how the subject, dog , is performing the action, chase , on the target of the action, ball . This is a simple, direct example of the active voice. In the passive voice, the action’s target, ball , is positioned first as the focus of the sentence. The sentence gets flipped, and the subject is now being acted upon by the verb. In other words, the subject is passive : The ball is being chased by the dog. Active and passive are the two grammatical voices in English. Neither is inherently better than the other, but each is suited to certain types of writing. There’s a reason why news an...

• How It Works • Overview Robust, real-time communication assistance • Generative AI Write, rewrite, get ideas, and quickly reply with GrammarlyGO • Writing Enhancements Features to polish, grammar, tone, clarity, team consistency, and more • Trust & Security You own your data • Demo Try Grammarly, and see how it works • Where It Works • Overview Writing assistance on 500,000+ apps and sites across your devices • Windows & Mac For desktop apps and websites like Word and Gmail • Browser Extension For sites like Google Docs, Gmail, and LinkedIn • Mobile For every Android and iOS app • Who We Are • About • Responsible AI • Press • Careers • We Stand with Ukraine • • Tools • Demo Try Grammarly, and see how it works • Grammar Checker Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes • Plagiarism Checker Check your work for plagiarism • Citation Generator Format citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago • Essay Checker Review your papers for a better grade • Guides • Writing • Grammar • Punctuation • Blog The passive voice gets a bad rap, but it’s not actually a grammatical error. The key is knowing when the passive voice is appropriate for what you're writing—it can be a stylistic choice, for example. While it isn’t an error, it can sometimes make your writing sound wordy and indirect. In some cases, writers may even try to use it to avoid accountability. That’s what’s going on in sentences like "Mistakes were made." Find out when and where to use the The passive voice isn’t wrong...

Learning how to change passive sentences to active voice is a skill all writers need. In most instances, all you need to do is move the subject before the verb. In a passive sentence, there is often the operator word, by before the object. But without one, it can be unclear who or what performs the action. For example, the book was written in 1972. You could write, the book was written in 1972 by Tom Smith, which is clearer. But in the active voice, it reads much better and is more concise. Tom Smith wrote the book in 1972. Summary Changing passive sentences to active If you are new to writing, you probably use a writing or grammar checker to help you. It’s a great way to learn and polish your writing skills. Many of these apps highlight You might try searching for a free passive to active voice converter online to make it easy. But unfortunately, I have never found one that works. ( Update: Here’s how to However, But if you don’t have the app, you can quickly change most sentences you write in passive to active voice once you learn how to do it. Anytime you see the verb to be in any tense, followed by a past participle and perhaps using the operator by, it is a passive voice structure. Look at these typical examples. All you need to do is move the subject of the sentence to the beginning before the verb. In an active sentence, it is always the subject at the beginning of the sentence that performs the action of the verb. Change passive sentences without an operator Howeve...

Summary: This handout will explain the difference between active and passive voice in writing. It gives examples of both, and shows how to turn a passive sentence into an active one. Also, it explains how to decide when to choose passive voice instead of active. If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb. Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly. Sometimes you will need to infer the agent from the surrounding sentences which provide context. If you want to change an active-voice sentence to passive voice, consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb, and then make that agent the object of a by the...phrase. Make what is acted upon the subject of the sentence, and change the verb to a form of be + past participle. Including an explicit by the... phrase is optional.

• How It Works • Overview Robust, real-time communication assistance • Generative AI Write, rewrite, get ideas, and quickly reply with GrammarlyGO • Writing Enhancements Features to polish, grammar, tone, clarity, team consistency, and more • Trust & Security You own your data • Demo Try Grammarly, and see how it works • Where It Works • Overview Writing assistance on 500,000+ apps and sites across your devices • Windows & Mac For desktop apps and websites like Word and Gmail • Browser Extension For sites like Google Docs, Gmail, and LinkedIn • Mobile For every Android and iOS app • Who We Are • About • Responsible AI • Press • Careers • We Stand with Ukraine • • Tools • Demo Try Grammarly, and see how it works • Grammar Checker Check for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes • Plagiarism Checker Check your work for plagiarism • Citation Generator Format citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago • Essay Checker Review your papers for a better grade • Guides • Writing • Grammar • Punctuation • Blog Take a sentence like “I want ice cream now.” It’s clear and straightforward—you know immediately that the subject, I , wants an object, ice cream . Now, recast this sentence, flipping it so that the object is in the position of the subject: “Ice cream is wanted by me now.” It isn’t just longer, but it’s also more detached, roundabout, and a little awkward, too. Those two sentences are examples of the active voice and the passive voice. Certain kinds of writing are best suited for ...