Active voice gets most of the praise, but passive voice exists for a reason. Treating one as right and the other as wrong is the kind of grammar advice that makes writing worse. The real skill is choosing based on what the sentence needs to emphasize.
Active vs Passive Examples
Active
Passive
Best When
The team shipped the feature.
The feature was shipped by the team.
Active — doer matters
Someone stole my bike.
My bike was stolen.
Passive — doer unknown
We heated the samples to 100°C.
The samples were heated to 100°C.
Passive — science focus on results
I made a mistake.
Mistakes were made.
Active — accountability matters
The judge sentenced him.
He was sentenced.
Passive — focus on the receiver
When Active Wins
Marketing copy. Active sentences sell; passive sentences hedge.
Documentation. "Click Save" beats "Save should be clicked."
News reporting. Active assigns clear responsibility.
Anywhere accountability matters. Resumes, status updates, post-mortems.
When Passive Wins
Doer unknown or irrelevant. "The wallet was found in Lot 4."
Scientific results. "The compound was synthesized" — focus is the result.
Receiver is the topic. "Anna was elected unanimously."
Diplomatic phrasing. "An error was made on the invoice" — softens blame.
The 10% Rule
Most professional writing should land between 5-15% passive sentences. Below 5%, prose can feel relentless and accusatory. Above 20%, energy drains and ownership blurs. Most checkers (including Hemingway) flag at the 10% mark — a useful target, not a rule.
Spot Passive Voice in Your Writing
Run your draft through a readability check to see passive percentage.
Active voice: the subject does the action. "The engineer shipped the fix." Passive voice: the subject receives the action. "The fix was shipped by the engineer." Passive can also drop the actor entirely: "The fix was shipped." That last form is where the trouble starts — when the actor disappears, accountability and clarity disappear with them.
When passive is right
The actor is unknown or irrelevant. "The vase was broken in 1942." Who broke it does not matter to the sentence.
You want to foreground the receiver. "The senator was elected in a landslide" puts focus on the senator, not the voters.
Scientific reporting traditionally uses passive to keep the experimenter out of the result. "Samples were heated to 80°C." Many modern style guides now prefer active even here.
Diplomacy and bad news. "Mistakes were made" exists for a reason — though that reason is usually avoidance.
When passive is wrong
Instructions. "The button should be pressed" → "Press the button". Imperatives are clearer and shorter.
Customer communications about errors. "Your card was declined by the issuing bank" is fine. "Your card was declined" hides the actor and creates anxiety.
Marketing copy. "Our software is loved by 50,000 teams" → "50,000 teams love our software". The active version is more vivid.
Anywhere the actor matters and is being hidden. "An apology has been issued" is famously evasive. "We apologise" is honest.
Detection tricks
Hunt for the construction be-verb + past participle ("is built", "was sent", "has been processed"). Add "by zombies" at the end — if the sentence still works grammatically, it is passive. "The cake was eaten by zombies" ✓ passive. "The zombies ate the cake by zombies" ✗ — original is active.
Rule of thumb. Aim for 80%+ active in user-facing copy. Hemingway and Grammarly both flag passive automatically — useful as a quick filter, not as a final verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions
Active: subject does the action. Passive: subject receives the action.
No — it's a tool. Use it when the receiver matters more than the doer.
A form of "to be" + past participle, optionally followed by "by [doer]".
Science, news about victims, diplomatic phrasing, or when doer is unknown.
"Mistakes were made" hides accountability. Active language assigns ownership.