Give your Writing Strength with An Active Voice

What Active Voice Means and Why it's Important

Most people (even many copywriters) have a hard time understanding the concept of 'writing actively' as opposed to 'writing passively'. I spent over a year writing before I really understood it myself. Here's a quick (boring) explanation. Active voice is when the subject of a sentence is the one performing the action. Passive voice is when the one performing the action is not mentioned or is not the subject (remember sentence diagramming from grade school?).

Ouch...that sounds a little complicated (it does to me anyway). How do you apply this rule? Make the first word of your sentence (unless it's 'you understood' as in this sentence) the one that will do whatever the main action is.

That's still a little dry. Let's break it down into examples.

Active: He fooled her.
Passive: She was fooled by him.
See how in the active voice, 'he' is the one acting.

Active: Most scientists accept this theory as true.
Passive: This theory is accepted by most modern scientists as true.
Again, in the active voice, 'scientists' is the subject of the sentence. Incidentally, 'as true' is redundant and we should leave it out.

Active: People often misunderstand the 'active writing' concept.
Passive: The 'active writing' concept is often misunderstood.
In this case, the passive voice leaves the 'actor' out. So we find a suitable one and insert it.

What's wrong with passive writing?

Writing in a passive voice usually makes the content sound either preachy, teachy, or condescending. You'll hear people use it in their speech when they explain something or when they want to sound well informed. This can be a big turn off in writing, especially when you're shooting for an informal style. Why? Because informal and casual writing (which most advertisers use) should read like a conversation...not a lecture.

Even when you're writing an informative article, a passive voice makes the reader yawn. You want readers to feel comfortable. You want them to relax and enjoy your writing. The last thing you want is for them to feel as if they're in a classroom.

Is passive writing ever OK?

Sure it is. But you should try to avoid it as much as possible.

When is it suitable? That's another article, for another time.

Copy For Sale takes pride in our ability to write actively in technical, informative, and marketing content. If you found this article interesting and easy to read, think of what we can do for your content.