In active voice, the subject performs the action: “The coordinator approved the agenda.” In passive voice, the subject receives the action: “The agenda was approved by the coordinator.” Both can be grammatical and useful.

Identify the actor and the action

Ask who did what. Active voice often makes responsibility clear and keeps the sentence short. “We changed the deadline” is more direct than “The deadline was changed by us.” It is especially useful when the reader needs to know who will act next. Passive voice commonly uses a form of “be” with a past participle, sometimes followed by a “by” phrase. But a form of “be” alone does not make a sentence passive. “The agenda is ready” describes a state; it does not contain an action being done to the agenda.

Compare useful choices

Example to adapt
Active: Priya will send the revised invitation by Friday. Use this when ownership matters. Passive: The room was renovated in 2024. Use this when the room and the renovation matter more than who performed the work. Unclear responsibility: The error was made and will be corrected. Clearer responsibility: I entered the wrong date, and I will correct it today.

The final revision is useful because it supplies accountability and timing, not merely because it changes the grammar.

Keep passive voice when it serves the reader

You may not know the actor, or the actor may be irrelevant. A process description may appropriately focus on what happens to a material. A paragraph may also use passive voice to keep a familiar topic at the beginning of successive sentences. Do not guess an actor just to avoid passive voice. “The window was broken overnight” may be more accurate than assigning responsibility without evidence.

Edit for purpose, not a blanket rule

Review passive constructions and ask whether they hide necessary information or add clutter. If so, name the actor and revise. If the passive version keeps the emphasis where it belongs, retain it. Read the paragraph after changing several sentences. Making every sentence follow the same active pattern can produce monotonous prose. The goal is clear responsibility and sensible emphasis, with enough variation to keep the writing natural.

Make the next draft yours.

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