If you’ve been immersed in the world of writing for some time, chances are you’ve encountered the elusive passive voice. Many publishers, literary agents, and editors strongly advise against its usage, urging writers to embrace the active voice instead. However, grasping this concept is no simple task. Therefore, within the confines of this guide, we shall delve into the art of rectifying the misuse of the passive voice.
Ah, passive voice—a formidable adversary that haunted my early ventures into fiction writing. In the throes of exasperation, I once ascended to the rooftop of my abode, unleashing a defiant cry to the wind, “What is this enigma called passive voice?” Upon descending, I diligently scoured the vast expanse of the internet, voraciously consuming every morsel of knowledge I could unearth.
Confronting the passive voice seems almost like a rite of passage for writers, a challenge that must be surmounted. Fear not, for this guide stands ready to equip you with the necessary tools for the task at hand.
What Is The Passive Voice?
The passive voice is typically characterized by the action being performed on the subject. In this construction, the subject takes on the role of the receiver of the action, often placed after the action itself. Additionally, the object is positioned before the verb.
It’s a reversal of roles when compared to the active voice. Although not an absolute rule, you can remember this passive voice structure as O.V.S—Object-Verb-Subject.
In contrast, the active voice offers a more immediate and immersive style. The subject of the sentence takes center stage as the doer of the action, expressed through a verb. Typically, this action finds its recipient in the form of an object, positioned after the action within the sentence’s structure.
What Is The Problem With Writing In Passive Voice?
The passive voice often receives a negative criticism. Based on my own experiences, it appears that publishers and agents have a preference for prose that is deemed “active.” This leads us to ponder: why is that the case? I can identify two primary reasons.
Prose crafted in the active voice possesses an immediacy and immersiveness that captivates the reader, refusing to release its hold. As writers, our aim is to seize the reader’s attention, while as readers, we yearn to be seized. This style of writing is dynamic and commanding, with each sentence’s subject actively carrying out an action.
In contrast, prose composed in the passive voice tends to be more verbose. While this discourse delves into the examination of writing “rules” and the reasons for our aversion to them, I must confess my admiration for Orwell’s guidelines, particularly the third one: if a word can be eliminated, always eliminate it.
The Best Passive Voice Checker Tools
If you’re really struggling with the passive voice, you’ll be glad to hear that a number of free checker and converter tools exist. In short, these tools can help you tackle problems quickly, helping you keep a productive and efficient pace with your writing.
Let’s take a look at some of them.
A Free Passive Voice Checker And Converter
One of the best passive voice checker tools is in fact free and can be found on the website of the writer, Richie Billing.
The tool doesn’t simply highlight passive words in a sentence, it gives you the option to convert it into active voice. This is a feature that many other checker tools do not offer, which makes it one of the best available.
It also allows for unlimited free usage, meaning you can convert as many passive sentences as you want.
The passive voice checker tool is also very user-friendly, with a big text box and easy-to-use buttons. Users can also find a lot of great help and advice on passive and active voice, what it is, and how to avoid it, rather than having to resort to using a tool all of the time.
Grammarly
Another passive voice checker tool that you can use is offered by Grammarly. With access to its limited free option, writers can plug in their web browser extension and check for any passive sentences when they check their spelling and grammar.
Grammarly offers some functionality in converting the sentence to active voice, though most of the time it results in a fundamental restructuring of the piece.
Whether you’re writing about cheese, curtains, dog care, dog food, or even about other types of pets, like monkeys or cats, using a tool like Grammarly can help you significantly. It’ll catch all of the little errors in your writing and can help you create clean and polished content.
Hemingway
The Hemingway editor also offers a free passive voice checker function. However, unlike the first two tools, it doesn’t offer any function to convert or change problematic sentences into active voices. You simply paste in the text you’d like to check and it’ll underline any passive sentences.
It’s then up to the writer to make the manual changes themselves. You could combine the likes of Richie Billing’s passive voice checker with Hemingway for a more complete service.
Other functions provided by Hemingway include highlighting adjectives and adverbs, which can prove useful when stripping back unnecessary words from your prose.
