Would you like a current or future assignment to be reviewed by the Writing Center? If so please visit the Writing Center's Paper Reviews webpage and make an appointment with us!ĭo you have other general writing questions? Email the Writing Center at questions about your doctoral capstone or the form and style review? Email the form and style editors at to peruse other writing resources? Go to the Writing Center’s home page. See more tips on the Writing Center’s passive and active voice page.View the blog post 'The Hunt for Passive Voice' or read through the blog post 'How Zombies Can Help You Avoid Passive Voice' for more details on passive voice and strategies to avoid it.Who or what did the action? The sentence does not state who did the action, so you may need to make up a subject.This example is in the passive voice with missing subject.Revision: The hungry children ate the pizzas.Who or what did the action? The hungry children did the action.This example is in the passive voice with 'were, ' an '-en' ending, and 'by' phrase.The pizzas were eaten by the hungry children. Revision: The student completed the research.With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other performer of the verb. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in the sentence. Who or what did the action? The student did the action. What is the passive voice In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and, you guessed it, more active.This example is in the passive voice with 'was,' an '-ed' ending, and a 'by' phrase.The research was completed by the student. Then, make that person or thing the subject of the sentence by moving it to the first place in the sentence. Passive voice makes your writing more distant, and your message less clear. Ask yourself who or what is doing the action. What is the passive voice check in Yoast SEO Yoast SEO comes with a passive voice check, which tracks all sentences containing passive voice and checks whether it exceeds the recommended maximum. Once you have identified passive voice in your writing, try separating the subject. If the subject is included in the passive voice sentence, it is in a 'by' phrase. An '-en' verb form is an indication of passive construction. Some verbs do not take an '-en' ending and use '-ed' instead. Any form of the word 'to be.' The words 'am,' 'is,' 'are,' 'was,' 'were,' 'be,' 'being,' and 'been' come before the verb in passive voice form.There are a few indicators of passive voice that you can look for in your writing: Thus, the subject may or may not be clear in sentence.Īlthough it is not always inappropriate to use, passive voice can make your writing seem vague. Passive voice is a verb form that creates a sense of indirect action in a sentence and often conceals the subject of a sentence. To avoid passive voice, you must be direct and precise in your verb choices. 1 Student Wellness & Disability Services.15 Statistical Tests: Tests of Mean Differences.

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Passive voice finder