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Avoid Passive Sentences With INK Passive Voice Checker

INK Passive Voice Checker can help check for passive voice in your writings.

Main Takeaways:

• In passive sentences, the subject undergoes the action of the verb.
• The verb “to be” and the past participle are required to form a passive sentence.
• Writing in the passive voice raises the issue of meaning and clarity.
• It’s okay to write in the passive voice in some instances.
• INK Passive Voice Checker can help identify passive sentences.

The use of passive voice in a text is not a grammatical error. It’s just a grammatical voice construction that can weaken the clarity of your writing. In other words, using passive voice can prevent a reader from understanding what you mean.

Since passive voice isn’t a grammatical error, you can’t rely on a regular grammar checker to catch its usage in a sentence. Instead, you must use a passive voice checker tool that’s designed for that specific purpose.

Before exploring the benefits of using INK Passive Voice Checker, let’s first understand what passive voice is.

What is Passive Voice?

In English, we use passive voice to emphasize the action and the object of a sentence rather than the subject. That implies that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know the subject’s identity.

Example:

• My wallet was stolen.

In the sentence above, the thief’s identity is a mystery. However, if we know who the subject is, we can add it at the end of the sentence using the preposition “by.” In this case, the subject is a passive agent.

Example:

• My wallet was stolen by John.

Although the sentence is grammatically correct, most editors would recommend avoiding passive voice when possible. If you know who the subject is, it’s always better to use the active voice.

Differences Between Passive Voice and Active Voice

A sentence is in the active voice when the subject of a sentence performs the action. Unlike the passive voice, sentences in the active voice have a sharp, direct, and clear tone.

Example:

• Steve picked up the hammer.

The sentence above has a basic active voice construction, and that’s subject, followed by the verb, then the object. The subject, John, performed the action of stealing the wallet.

Meanwhile, in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb. As a result, we usually construct a passive voice in English sentences using a conjugated form of the “to be.” The sentence also includes the verb’s past participle as well as a preposition.

Example:

• The hammer was picked up by Steve.

Writing a sentence in passive voice is not nearly as complicated as it sounds. It’s actually easy to do.

How to Form Passive Voice in the English Language

As said earlier, two elements are essential for writing a sentence in passive voice in English. These are the appropriate form of the verb “to be” and the past participle.

Here are some noteworthy methods of forming passive voice sentences.

Passive Voice with Infinitives

We can use a bare infinitive after a modal verb or any other verb to write a sentence in passive voice. Some modal verbs include may, must, should, can, and would.

Examples:

• You may be disappointed.
• He might be promoted next year.

Passive Voice with “To Be Born”

The phrase “to be born” is in the passive voice, and we mostly use it in the past tense. However, it can also work with the presentor future tense.

Examples:

• He was born in 1947.
• An average of 250 babies is born every minute.
• She doesn’t know when the baby will be born.

Passive Voice with Gerunds

Gerunds refer to a verb form that functions as a noun. We can combine these words with a preposition and a verb to form passive voice.

Examples:

• Most movie stars hate being interviewed.
• Cats like being pampered.

You can’t create a passive sentence when there’s no one to receive the action. As a result, verbs that have no object cannot exist in an inactive form.

Examples of such words include die, come, happen, exist, love, occur, sleep, and go, among others.

Instances When Passive Voice is Useful

Even though an active sentence is preferable and more precise, a passive sentence can also be useful in some situations. For instance, we could use this sentence structure to focus readers’ attention on the person or thing that an action affects.

Example:

• She was asked to take on a new role.

In the sentence, we don’t know who asked her to take on a new role. So, writing the sentence in passive voice helps us focus the attention on the person being asked.

When the Actor is Unknown

You can use passive voice when the person acting in a sentence is unknown.

Example:

• Peter’s rent has been increased.

In this instance, we’re unsure who’s responsible for increasing Peter’s rent. It could be an individual landlord, a rental company, or any number of entities.

Since we don’t know who the actor is, it’s best to fall back on the passive voice.

When the Actor is Inconsequential

In some instances, we can use the passive voice when the source of the action doesn’t matter.

Example:

• I’m carrying the box because I have been let go.

The sentence places more emphasis on the person receiving the action than the person carrying it out.

With that said, the words “have been” is a popular construct in passive sentences. However, if you can do without them, it’s always better to use an active voice.

The Problem with Writing in the Passive Voice

It can be Confusing

Most writing instructors frown on the passive voice because it raises the issue of clarity in writing. They usually have to guess what you mean in your text.

Example:

• When her purse was stolen again, Jackie cancelled her afternoon appointments.

As you can see, the sentence above lacks a clear reference to the actor. So, readers might wonder who stole Jackie’s purse and why the theft affected her afternoon appointments.

An active voice, on the other hand, can quickly clarify things.

Example:

• After her secretary stole her purse again, Jackie cancelled here afternoon appointments.

In the second example, we know who is doing the action. And this knowledge helps readers make sense of the sentence.

Passive Sentences are Wordy

Wordiness takes away from clarity. It involves using too many useless words that could clutter your writing.

Good writing should be direct and straightforward. Unfortunately, passive voice is neither of those. The passive alternative to an active sentence is often longer, and this makes your writing seem wordy.

Examples:

• The boy ate the apple.
• The apple was eaten by the boy.

Although the two sentences convey the same message, the passive sentence used two extra words. This can add up when you overuse passive voice in your texts.

Complex Sentence Structure

The basic active sentence structure in the English language is relatively consistent and logical. It usually involves a subject that’s performing a specific action. The passive voice turns it the other way round.

So, you have to read the action before knowing the identity of the performer. As a result, readers have to expend more cognitive effort to understand the sentence structure.

While it’s okay to use passive sentences in your writing, these complex sentence structure issues can quickly add up. In the end, you’ll have a speech, novel, essay, or article that’s difficult to understand.

Changing a passive sentence into an active one is simple. You just have to locate the subject and object, then switch your sentence around.

The challenging part is identifying all the passive voices in your writing. That’s where a passive voice detector comes in.

Benefits of Using INK Passive Voice Checker

INK Passive Voice Checker helps identify the use of passive voice in your writings.

Most conventional grammar checkers claim to be able to catch the passive voice in sentences. But, as you already know, using passive voice in your writing is not grammatically wrong.

So, a regular grammar checker might not be the most effective at catching all forms of this voice construction. Luckily for you, INK Passive Voice Checker is far from conventional.

This passive sentence checker can analyze your writing within seconds to highlight all the passive voice use. That way, you can rewrite the sentences into active voice.

Read More: Biggest List Of Transition Words For Irresistibly Smooth Content

Definition of Active Voice and Passive Voice Sentences

Active voice sentences are the sentences where a subject of a sentence acts upon its verb on the other hand, Passive voice sentences are those sentences where a subject of a sentence is a recipient of a verb’s action. 

What’s the difference between active and passive voice sentence?

Active voice: In active voice the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s action and such sentences have a strong, direct, and clear tone. Here are some examples of active voice.

Examples:

Ali wrote on a wall

Girls adore beauty.

The cat chased the rat.

Ali opened the door.

All above examples have a basic active voice structure: subject, verb, and object. The subject Ali performs the action described by writing. The subject the Girls performs the action described by adore. The subject the cat performs the action described by chased.

Passive voice: The passive voice is a style of writing where what would be the object of a sentence becomes the subject of the sentence. In passive voice sentence the subject is acted on by the verb. The passive voice writings are formed when the object of a sentence becomes the subject of a sentence.

Examples:

The writing was completed by Ali.

Even though “Ali” completed the writing, “Ali” is not the grammatical subject of this sentence. The subject of this sentence is “writing.”

In passive sentences, the thing that seems to be doing the action will be ordered chronologically after the verb.

The meal was eaten by Ali.

Again, in this example, rather than say, “Ali ate the meal.” the meal becomes the subject of the sentence.

How to change simple tenses active voice to passive voice?

Some following rules that will must be applied either tenses will change or not while changing from active voice to passive voice.

• First of all apply first rule “change subject into object”.

• Secondly “change helping verb”according to table which in mentioned bellow.

• In third rule we will put “third form of verb”in every sentence and in every tense.

• The fourth rule will be applied that we will put “By”after the form of verb.

• The fifth rule is same like first in which subject changed into object and now we will “replace object to subject”.

• At the time of changing sentence negative will be negative and interrogative will be interrogative both are not changed.

• If active voice sentence is starting from “who” then it will change to “by whom”.

• When the interrogative sentence start from shall, will, can,and should then we should use be after the new subject and will, shall, can, and should in starting of a sentences.

• When the interrogative sentence start from when, why and how than we should use them in starting of the sentences and who should replace by By Whom.

 

Change in  subjective cases and objective cases

Subjective cases         Objective case

I                                   me

We                               us

You                             you

He                               him

She                              her

It                                 it

They                            them

 

Change of Tenses and Helping Verb

1. Present Tense

1.1 Present indefinite will change to present continues and above all rule will be applied.

Examples:

He eats food.

(Passive voice): Food is eaten by him.

Does he sing a song?

(Passive voice): Is a song sung by him?

Aslam does not play cricket.

(Passive voice): Cricket is not played by Aslam.

1.2 Present continues will not change but after the helping verb “being” will be added and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

Servant is boiling eggs.

(Passive voice): Eggs are being boiled by servant.

Is he writing a letter?

(Passive voice): Is a letter being written by him?

He is not playing cricket.

(Passive voice): Cricket is not being played by him. 

1.3 Present perfect will change to present perfect continues and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

He has written a letter.

(Passive voice): A letter has been written by him.

Has the policeman caught a thief?

(Passive voice): Has a thief been caught by the policeman?

I have not stolen your pen.

(Passive voice): Your pen has not been stolen by me.

1.4 Present perfect continues will not be changed.

2.

Past Tense

2.1 Past indefinite will change to past continues and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

We went to the park.

(Passive voice): The park was gone by us.

Did the peon ring the bell?

(Passive voice): Did the bell rung by peon.

I did not take tea.

(Passive voice): Tea was not taken by me.

2.2 Past continues will not change the tense but after the helping verb “being” will be added and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

The girls were plucking the flowers.

(Passive voice): The flowers were being plucked by the girls.

They were not breaking the stone.

(Passive voice): The stone were not being broken by them.

2.3 Past perfect will be changed into past perfect continues and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

He had eaten food.

(Passive voice): Food had been eaten by him.

He had not bought the book before met me.

(Passive voice): The book had not been bought by him before met me.

Had she cooked food?

(Passive voice): Had food been cooked by her?

2.4 Past perfect continues will not be changed.

 3.

Future Tense

3.1 Future indefinite will be changed into future continues and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

He will write a latter.

(Passive voice): A latter will be written by him.

Will he cook food?

(Passive voice): Will food be cooked by him?

You will not speak the truth.

(Passive voice): The truth will not be spoken by you.

3.2 Future continues will not be changed.

3.3 Future perfect will be changed into future perfect continues and above all rules will be applied accordingly.

They will have killed a lion.

(Passive voice): A lion will have been killed by them.

She will not have cooked the food.

(Passive voice): The food will not have been cooked by her.

Will he have played football?

(Passive voice): Will football have been played by him?

3.4 Future perfect continues will not be changed.

Change of Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentences carry commands, requests, forbiddance and they are changed in a different way from active voice compared to above tenses.

• Every sentence will start let.

• Replace object with the subject.

• Use third form of verb in every sentence and in every tense.

• Put “be”after the form of verb.

• Change subject into object.

• If the active voice sentence carries any order then we use “you are ordered to…”

• When there is a request we write “you are requested to…”

• When there is an advice in a sentence we write “you are advised to…”

Examples:

Polish my shoes.

(Passive voice): Let my shoes be polished.

Open the door.

(Passive voice): Let the door be opened.

Do it once.

(Passive voice): Let it be done once.

Publish my book today.

(Passive voice): Let my book be published today.

Help me

(Passive voice)Let me be helped

(Passive voice)You are requested to help me

6. Eat meal slowly

(Passive voice) Let the meal be eaten slowly

(Passive voice) You are advised to eat slowly

Note: Sometime we find agents as someone, one, and nobody, judge, police and people. Then it is not mandatory to use them in passive voice.

Example:

1. Someone has beaten me.

 (Passive voice) I have been beaten.

Note: In passive voice, sometime we would have to use ‘in, with, to, at’ instead of ‘by’ As per active sentence’s expression. When expressions are astonishing, shocking, disappointment, surprising or alarming we should use at.

Example:

(Active voice) Her look surprised me

(Passive voice)  I was surprised at her look.

Note: Use to after obliged and known while changing active to passive voice.

Example:

(Active voice) She knows Ali.

(Passive voice) Ali is known to her. 

Note: We should use ‘with’ after annoyed, disgusted, pleased, impressed, satisfied and so on.

Example:

(Active voice) Your attitude has satisfied me.

(Passive voice) I have been satisfied with you attitude.