Active vs Passive Constructions | When to Use the Passive Voice

The passive voice occurs when the person or thing that performs an action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence. Instead, the person or thing that receives the action is placed before the verb. Passive sentences are formed using the verb to be combined with a past participle.

In a passive construction, the actor does not have to be named at all.

Writers are often advised to avoid the passive voice, but it is not a grammatical error. In academic writing, this type of sentence structure is sometimes useful or necessary. However, overusing it can make your writing unclear or convoluted.

Avoiding the passive voice

In most cases, it’s best to use active sentence constructions where possible. Sometimes the passive voice makes a sentence less clear by obscuring the actor.

Who made the decision? To properly understand what occurred, we need to know who was behind the action. This is possible in the passive voice, but the sentence becomes convoluted.

An active construction is preferable for clarity and concision.

If you write a passive sentence, consider carefully whether leading with the actor would strengthen your point.

This is also relevant when discussing previous research: active constructions that specify who is responsible for findings can make your writing more credible and convincing.

• Evidence has been found of nonhuman primates engaging in ritualistic behaviour.
• Smith (2015) found evidence of nonhuman primates engaging in ritualistic behaviour.
• Several recent studies have found evidence of nonhuman primates engaging in ritualistic behaviour.

Using the passive voice

Some types of academic writing do not permit the use of first-person pronouns. In these cases, the passive voice can be used for referring to your own actions.

If you use the passive voice in more complex sentences, make sure to avoid dangling modifiers.

The passive voice is often also appropriate when the subject of an action is unknown or unimportant to the meaning of the sentence.

In this case, the object of the action – the votes – is more important than who did the counting. Specifying the actor wouldn’t add any useful information to the sentence.

With verbs like require, there is often no particular actor who does the requiring, so the passive voice is used to state a general sense of necessity or obligation.