Whether you are a student, teacher, professional writer, or just an average Joe that engages in personal writing, you need to learn how to switch voice when crafting your texts. Although passive voice construction doesn’t necessarily alter the meaning of a sentence, it does water down the emphasis placed on the subject and redirect it to the direct object. Put simply, passive voice construction entails the subject in a sentence receiving the action rather than doing it.
Example:
Passive: The chicken was eaten by Jane.
From the above example, the word chicken is the subject of the sentence. However, the subject is receiving the action rather than performing it. At the very least, this statement sounds clunky, and wordy at most.
Active: Jane ate the chicken.
In this article, we are going to reveal how you can rewrite the sentence in active voice, the merits and demerits of using passive voice, and how our passive voice checker can help.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Passive Voice
Using passive voice in your writing doesn’t necessarily constitute an error. With that said, however, some writing genres out there highly discourage the use of passive voice. Whether or not to change passive voice using an online tool depends on the context or the message you’re trying to pass.
Here are the four major reasons you may want to consider using the passive voice checker:
- Emphasizes the action. When passive voice construction occurs, the focus shifts from the subject to the action. In fact, some writers end up leaving out the subject altogether.
Example:
The cow was eaten.
In the above context, the person who polluted the river is less important to the reader. Instead, the pollution itself is what concerns the reader the most.
- Creates anonymity. Passive voice also helps writers create a sense of anonymity by keeping their subjects a mystery.
- It fosters objectivity. Using passive voice helps create an emotional disconnect between the reader and the narration, which is important if they are to form an objective opinion. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the primary reasons why scientific publications are written in the passive voice .
- Commands authority. Unlike the more conversational active voice construction, the passive voice is relatively formal, making it sound more authoritative and professional. In other words, it makes your writing sounds like you know what you are talking about.
Demerits of Using Passive Voice
Passive voice construction does come with its fair share of demerits. The two primary disadvantages of using passive voice phrases in your writing are that they make your sentences sound wordy, as well as hard to understand.
Example:
Passive: The meat was eaten by the dog.
Active: The dog ate the meat.
How to Change Passive Voice Manually
Identifying and correcting passive voice in your writing takes different forms. First, you need to look for the action in a sentence and establish who did it. If the person responsible for performing the actions is either missing or occurs after the action, AND the form of “to be” that’s followed by a past participle in a sentence, you have a passive voice construction.
How to rewrite a sentence in active voice, in this case, may come in the form of rearranging the sentence structure in the following manner: The subject, verb, and object.
If you don’t know how to identify passive voice or even how to change passive voice to active or simply don’t have the time, you can also opt for our online passive voice checker. Powered by English grammar rules and advanced AI algorithms, these online tools scan your texts for passive voice phrases and offer the most appropriate suggestion.
Factors to Consider When Looking for a Sentence Transformer
Today, there are multiple passive checkers out there, which makes it extremely challenging to choose the right. In this section, we are going to look at the factors to consider before choosing the right one:
Cost. One of the biggest considerations when looking for an online passive voice checker is the cost. Depending on your budget and editing needs, you can choose a paid-for online tool or a free-to-use passive checker.
Features. Another factor to consider when choosing a passive voice checker is its features and capabilities. A good online checker should allow you to edit and proofread all grammar-related mistakes under one roof.
Muti-device compatibility. If you are always on the move, you should consider choosing a passive checker that is compatible with multiple devices. With this multi-device compatibility, you can edit all texts even when on the move, which is particularly important for projects with tight deadlines.
Ease of use. Editing can be an expensive and time-consuming process. As such, the last thing you want is an online checker with a steep learning curve or requires technical skills to operate.
Features of Our Passive Voice Rewriter
Unlike most passive voice checkers out there, our tool goes beyond showing you how to rewrite passive voice. Below are some of the features that you can take advantage of.
Grammar and spelling checker. Our passive voice checker features a grammar and spelling checker, which helps review and flag grammar errors in your writing. Whether you are looking to rewrite passive voice, correct typos, identify singular-plural noun issues, or even flag subject-verb disagreement, our checker can handle everything.
Punctuation checker. A simple punctuation mistake can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Our online passive checker ensures that all commas, semicolons, apostrophes, and periods are correctly placed in your sentences.
Plagiarism checker. The tool also comes with a comprehensive plagiarism checker, which helps you produce original work.
How to Identify Passive Voice Using Our Tool
Using our tool to rewrite sentence in active voice is a breeze. Simply follow these easy steps;
- Copy/paste your typed document on the blank editor.
- Click the Check button.
- After a few seconds, the checker will return feedback highlighting all the passive voice phrases.
- Apply sentence corrections by clicking on the highlighted mistakes.
Use our passive voice checker today to enhance the quality of your writing.
