The active voice paints a more concrete, vivid picture in the mind of the reader and thus enables the writer to communicate more effectively.
Good writers aim for readers to see exactly what they want them to see. If we revise the sentence, however, and insert the agent for the action, the reader sees a much clearer, more complete image: “Three chefs from the local culinary school will prepare the meal in the banquet hall.” Such sentences create mental images with key pieces missing.įor example, someone reading the sentence “The meal will be prepared in the banquet hall” will have a difficult time picturing a meal being prepared by no one in particular. One final reason to avoid the passive voice is that it often fails to tell us who performed the action expressed by the verb.
In sentence 2 at the top of this article, for example, the passive voice creates the illogical statement that the plan consulted with the board of trustees. Perhaps the most important reason to avoid the passive voice is that passive sentences are often awkward if not downright illogical and ambiguous.
Avoid passive-verb phrases, and use the active voice instead. In truth, it usually sounds stuffy-even pretentious-and creates a barrier between the writer and the reader. Particularly in the business arena, writers use the passive voice because they falsely assume that it sounds more professional.