Passive Voice: When to Avoid It (and When to Keep It)

Few grammar rules are repeated more confidently than "avoid passive voice." Writing teachers say it. Style guides warn against it. Microsoft Word underlines it with a blue squiggle. But the full story is more interesting than a simple prohibition.

What Is Passive Voice?

In active voice, the subject performs the action: *The dog bit the man.*

In passive voice, the subject receives the action: *The man was bitten by the dog.*

Passive constructions use a form of "to be" (is, was, were, been, being) followed by a past participle (bitten, written, done).

Why Passive Voice Gets a Bad Reputation

Passive voice can make writing feel weak, indirect, or bureaucratic. Consider:

• Active: "We made a mistake."
• Passive: "Mistakes were made."

The passive version obscures who made the mistakes — a tactic famously associated with political evasion. It creates distance between the actor and the action.

Passive voice also tends to produce longer, clunkier sentences. It often requires the phrase "by [someone]" to restore the missing actor, adding words without adding clarity.

When Passive Voice Is Actually Correct

Despite its reputation, passive voice has legitimate uses.

**When the actor is unknown or irrelevant.** "The package was delivered this morning." We don't know or care who delivered it.

**In scientific and technical writing.** "The samples were incubated at 37°C for 24 hours." Scientific convention often prefers passive to maintain an objective tone and focus on the experiment rather than the experimenter.

**When you want to emphasize the receiver of the action.** "The CEO was fired." Here, the CEO is the focus — who fired them matters less.

**To vary sentence rhythm.** A string of active sentences can become monotonous. Occasional passive constructions can create pleasing variation.

The 10% Rule

A practical guideline: aim for under 10% passive voice in most writing. Our Passive Voice Detector highlights passive sentences so you can evaluate them one by one. Some will be worth keeping. Others will benefit from being rewritten in active voice.

The goal isn't to eliminate passive voice — it's to use it intentionally, not by default.