#Active vs passive voice how to
#Active vs passive voice tv

#Active vs passive voice tv

Passive voice is often used in news reports and TV segments. Saying, “the man was shot by police” sounds less direct than “police shot the man.”Ĭheck out the clip below and see if you can identify the active vs. That’s because this type of voice can help show objectivity and soften the tone. You’ll often hear passive voice during news reports. You might also want your audience to hone in on the direct object or the actual action instead of who’s responsible for the action. Passive voice is best used when you’re looking for a more indirect tone. In that case, the direct object is the dinner. The direct object of that sentence (AKA the action’s target) is the focus. In our above example, the main verb is “to eat,” or its past participle, “eaten.” The conjugated form of “to be” is “was,” so we get “was eaten.” No matter what, every passive voice sentence will have two verbs: The subject isn’t active anymore - it’s acting on the verb. Here, the subject-verb agreement changes.

Passive voice is another grammatical term that refers to instances where the verb acts on the subject. This will also give your audience more clarity and direction when you’re speaking or writing with the active voice.įor example, it’s usually best to use active voice when you’re writing: You should aim to use active voice when you want your audience to direct their attention to your sentence’s subject and that action happening (as opposed to the target of the action). As long as the sentence’s subject is doing the action (the verb), it’s in the active voice. That’s why people are able to change a sentence that’s in the active voice to the passive voice - you’re just switching the sentence order. Active voice is all about how your sentence is structured. When you’re using an active voice, the subject of your sentence will always be responsible for performing the action. In this case, the subject - the dog - is the one doing the action (eating dinner). Here’s an example (We’ll revisit active voice examples later on). What Is Active Voice?Īctive voice is a grammatical term that refers to instances where the sentence’s subject does the action.

#Active vs passive voice how to

passive voice is, how to use them, and examples of each (as well as how to practice the two voices).

Our helpful guide will explain what active vs. These terms can be confusing if you don’t have experience studying or using them. But can you tell the difference between the two? There’s a good chance you’ve heard of active vs.