Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

32Know the Difference between Active and Passive Voice

Verbs in a sentence are either active or passive. Passive does not mean (as some people believe) the past tense. Rather, passive means that something is being done to something, instead of that something doing the action on its own.

Here is an example of the passive voice: Instagram has become popular among pizzerias, and as a result many photos of people eating pizza are being posted.

Here is the same sentence written in the active voice: Instagram has become popular among pizzerias, and as a result people are posting many photos of themselves eating pizza.

Generally you want to use the active voice, or active writing, instead of the passive voice.

Using the passive voice is not incorrect, but you'll vastly improve your writing just by making your sentences active. Active sounds zippier and more alive. Passive tends to sound a little stilted and awkward, as if you're just learning a new language.

1. Passive: The video was edited by a guy named Hibachi.
2. Active: A guy named Hibachi edited the video.
3. Passive: Duduk theme music is rarely featured on podcasts.
4. Active: Podcasts rarely feature duduk theme music.