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Difference between Active and Passive Voice

Nov

30

2011

Difference between Active and Passive Voice

In: Grammar Asked By: daniel [554 Orange Star Level]
Answer #1

It is undeniable that English language is quite complex as there are several things that require being mastered prior to knowing how to correctly utilize this language. You have to know how to make use of the proper voicing in both writing and reading. In this context, the two kinds of voices that exist in English are passive and active voice.

The active voice gains it name because the topic of the statement is responsible for doing an actual action. The following sentence should clearly show this: ‘She likes you’. Here, ‘she’ acts as the subject, while ‘likes’ functions as the action, with you being the object. In contrast, passive voice is different since the subject and object have been changed, but without modifying the real meaning of a sentence. Converting the earlier sentence would provide something such as: ‘You are liked by her’. In this instance, the earlier object acts like the target, while the action is promoted to the main subject.

Passive voicing is normally perceived like an awkward method of structuring statements. Sometimes, it might even look or sound incorrect but actually it is not.

Furthermore, passive voice may even leave out an original performer an action as portrayed in this sentence: ‘You are liked’. This means you are liked but the actually individual who likes you has not been stated. Passive voice use is popular by politicians so as to hide doers of actions. This is visible in most controversial statements such as: ‘soldiers were killed’.

In this context, passive voicing is preferred in novels where the main subject is general hidden to ensure that readers will not know instantly who performed the actions. This particular writing style provides more suspicion and excitement. It is also noticeable that all passive sentences are formed using the term ‘by’. Therefore, this makes a sentence very wordy and it sometimes makes a meaning more obscure. Lastly, passive voicing is longer as compared to active voice statements.

Answers Answered By: daniel [554 Orange Star Level]
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