How to write in the active voice

Writing in the active voice will make your copy sharper and easier to read. Yet although many people have heard about it, there’s a lot of confusion about what it means.

Some think it’s about tone or style; others think it’s about tense.

Instead, active voice is about having the subject perform the action of the verb – rather than being acted upon by it.

For example, The kitten was chased by Dan is passive – whereas Dan chased the kitten is active.

In active voice, you want the subject to do something to the object of the sentence.

To give another example, instead of writing Global warming is caused by humans, write Humans cause global warming.

The word by often indicates passive voice.

Active voice is usually the best way to write for three reasons:

1. It lets readers know immediately who is doing what.
2. It makes the sentence shorter.
3. The further the object is from the subject, the more likely the sentence will be confusing.

Active voice also works well in headlines, which is why Man bites dog is better than Dog was bitten by man.

Having said that, there are always exceptions.

Sometimes the subject will be assumed. If I get arrested for chasing a neighbour’s kitten, the headline wouldn’t be Police arrest man for chasing kitten – because who else would arrest me? Instead, the headline would be Man arrested for chasing kitten, even though that’s passive.

You can also write in the passive voice for a headline, email subject line or a first sentence if it pushes the most interesting words up the front.

For example, Pulitzer Prize won by Dan Kaufman would grab more people than Dan Kaufman wins Pulitzer Prize as most people (with the possible exception of my mother) would be more interested in the Pulitzer than little old me.

However, I will repeat these are exceptions: most of the time, active voice will make your writing better.