How to use active voice in an essay

How to write a perfect essay using active voice?

An essay’s primary motive or intention is to communicate the information in a lucid manner. In order to achieve this,there are various grammatical techniques that must be used. One of them is the effective use of active voice.

What is active voice?

Active voice is the set of words which indicate an action. It is usually a verb which shows a subject performing an action. Active voice is used in most of the non-scientific writing. It is nothing but a subject of a sentence which becomes doer of the action.

Examples of active voice:

1.She is doing the work.

2.I gave a chocolate bar to her.

3.Sam broke the glass.

4.She finished the reporting.

5.I drive a car.

These are few of the examples of active voice where a subject represents an action being performed.

Here the highlighted words are the verbs which suggest that an action is being performed.

Changing it to passive voice:

1.The work is being done by her.

2.A chocolate was given to her by me.

3.A glass was broken by Sam.

4.The reporting was finished by her.

5.A car is driven by me.

In passive voice, the sentences will have an action that gets acted upon. Hence there is no action performed directly.

Why should active voice be used?

Here are few strong reasons mentioned as to why active voice must be used while writing.

1.Using active voice will help in delivering energy and directness.

2.It gives lesser complication to understand therefore meaning of the content can be grasped easily.

3.It gives concise meaning leading to accuracy.

4.It closely resembles the spoken language hence makes it easier to relate and understand content in a better way.

5.Active voice uses more of informal procedures which will induce reader’s interest to read more. 

Difference between active voice and passive voice

1.Directness:

Active voice: Active voice is a set of words which shows some action being performed.

Passive voice: Passive voice is a set of words which shows some action which is being acted upon.

2.The tone:

Active voice: Active voice gives a personal tone to the writing.

Passive voice: Passive voice gives an impersonal tone to the writing.

3.Usage:

Active voice: Active voice is used in most of the non-scientific writing (but most of the academic writing now accepts active voice)

Passive voice: Passive voice is used in most of the scientific writing.

4.Grammatical person:

Active voice: Active voice uses first person while it is being written. So
me of the examples of first person are “I”, “me” etc. It indicates directness.

Passive voice: Passive voice uses third person and there is less use of first person like “I”, “me”.

5.Length of the content:

Active voice: The length of the content being written considerably is less when compared to the writing when written using passive voice.

Passive voice:  The length of the content is more and makes the text look complicated.

How to use active voice in an essay? 

1.Transitive verbs in active voice: Transitive verbs are the verbs which require object. Examples of transitive verbs are: played, killed, hit, cleaned, etc.

How to use transitive verb in active voice?

Example:

The hunter killed the lion.

They were invited to the party.

For more information, click on this link.

2.Indirect object: Indirect objects are the nouns or pronouns which indicate to whom or for whom the action is being performed.

Example:

I gave a book for him on the New Year’s Eve.

She received the gift through the courier today.

3.Using phrasal verbs: Phrasal verbs are the phrases that consists of  a verb with another element.

Example:

The brave woman came forward with a agenda for helping the poor.

They all planned for a get together.

4.Imperative sentences: Imperative sentences are those sentences which give instructions or command.

Example:

Turn the lights off!

Wait! Don’t go there

5.Infinitives and gerunds: Gerunds are any form in verb+ing form whereas infinitives are any form in to+base verb

Example:

We enjoyed the sunset. (Gerund)

He is practising tennis. (Gerund)

He decided to move to a new place (Infinitive)

I would like to thank everyone (Infinitive)