That sounds much more complicated than it is-passive voice is actually quite easy to detect. Doing this usually generates a preposition as well. The subjects are doing, doing, doing-they take action in their sentences.Ī sentence is in the passive voiceon the other hand, when the subject is acted on by the verb. The subject the dog performs the action described by chased. The subject the cashier performs the action described by counted. The subject monkey performs the action described by adore. All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb, and object.
Here are some short and straightforward examples of active voice. Sentences in the active voice have a strong, direct, and clear tone. Your writing, at its best.īe the best writer in the office. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites. The two grammatical voices are active and passive. In English grammar, verbs have five properties: voice, mood, tense, person, and number here, we are concerned with voice.
When used correctly and in moderation, the passive voice is fine. Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb.