One of the styles of writing is active voice in which the subject is the first word who completes the overall action in a sentence.
Learn about Active Voice
Active voice refers to that style of writing in which the subject is required to do the action of the sentence. The subject is the first word that comes before the verb.
You can see this style of writing in most of the writings. Writers tend to write in this style as it is the most common and acceptable style. Writing in active voice helps the readers to clearly understand the writings.
For example,
1. I clean up my room every week.
2. She lives in her grandparents’ place.
You can see in the above examples, the subjects ‘I’ and ‘she’ are doing the action verbs. Also, in each sentence, the subject is the first word that comes before the verb and object.
Points to Remember
In a sentence, when the subject completes an action, the sentence will be formed as an active sentence. Just remember that the subject should do the verb otherwise, the sentence will not be considered as an active sentence.
For example,
1. She ran.
• Yesterday, she ran.
• In the morning, she ran to the beach.
You see that the subject ‘she’ comes before the verb and it is the only one who is doing the action verb ‘ran’.
Some famous quotes in Active Voice
1. If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with. (Michael Jackson)
2. I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend. (Abraham Lincoln)
Active vs. Passive Voice
What is passive voice? It is another style of writing in which the object becomes the subject of the sentence.
You can say that it may be the opposite of active voice.
For example,
1. I clean up my room. (Active voice)
• My room was cleaned up by me. (Passive voice)
Point to remember: If you find any difficulty to identify passive sentences, then look at the subject who is not taking a direct object in the sentence. Mostly, it’s the object that comes before the verb and the subject undergoes the action verb in passive sentences.
Note: Active voice is much preferred writing style. It does not mean that passive voice is incorrect, but you should avoid writing in passive voice, especially in academic writings.
Change the following Active Voice into Passive Voice
1. I sing a song.
2. Yesterday, he slapped him.
3. She is bringing the book.
4. The boy was writing a poem.
(Answers at the end)
What Did You Learn?
Active voice is one of the most commonly used styles of writing. In such sentences, the subjects do the action verbs and come before verbs. This is the preferred writing style than passive voice.
Answers:
1. A song is sung by me.
2. Yesterday, he was slapped by him.
3. The book is being brought by her.
4. A poem was being written by the boy.