Active and Passive Voice Voice is determined by the subject’s function in the sentence.

Active Voice If the subject is the doer of the action, the verb is active voice. Justin planted rose bushes in the garden. Carlos studied Spanish for four years. The contractor built all of the houses on this block.

Passive Voice If the subject is the receiver of the action, the verb is passive voice. The doer may or may not be named after the verb. Passive voice verbs are formed by combining a form of be with the past participle of the main verb. The rose bushes were planted by Justin. Spanish has been studied by many students. Those houses have been built in six months.

Active Voice Active voice is generally better to use in your writing. It moves sentences along, is more direct, and creates more energy in your writing. The spider crawled up her leg. (active) Her leg was crawled upon by a spider. Rain pelted her face as she struggled against the storm. (active) Her face was pelted by rain as the storm was struggled against by her.

Passive Voice Passive voice is useful when the doer of the action is unknown or unimportant to the topic or story. The houses were built in The diamond had been stolen from under the guard’s nose. Every year on his birthday, a single red rose was left on his gravestone.