The Complete Guide to Passive Voice: Definition & Rules

Passive voice weakens your writing but most writers don’t know when they’re using it.

This complete guide reveals exactly how passive voice construction damages reader engagement, when to eliminate it ruthlessly, and the rare situations where it’s actually acceptable.

Discover the simple tricks that instantly improve your content clarity and keep readers hooked from start to finish.

Key Takeaways

• Spot Passive Voice Fast: Use the Zombie Test, if “by zombies” fits after the verb make sense, it’s passive voice that weakens your writing clarity.
• Active Voice Boosts Engagement: Research shows active voice increases reader engagement by 23-42% across blogs, emails, and marketing content.
• Know When Passive Works: Scientific reports and unknown actors are the rare cases where passive voice serves legitimate rhetorical purposes.
• Eliminate Wordiness: Converting passive to active voice typically reduces word count by 20-30% while improving readability scores.
• Use Real-Time Detection: Orwellix’s blue highlighting instantly flags passive voice constructions so you can revise before publishing.
• Master Both Voices: Understanding when to use each voice type transforms good writers into sophisticated communicators who engage their audiences.

What Is Passive Voice? (The Strict Definition)

Understanding passive voice begins with its precise grammatical definition. The passive voice formula is straightforward once you understand its four key components. According to Grammar Monster, a leading grammar education resource, passive voice follows this precise structure:

Passive Voice Formula: Object + Verb “to be” + Past Participle + (by Subject)

Let’s break down each component to understand how passive voice works in practice.

• The Object Becomes the Subject: In passive voice, the thing receiving the action moves to the front of the sentence. For example, in “The report was written by Sarah,” the word “report” is the object that becomes the sentence subject.
• The Verb “To Be” Signals Passive Construction: The verb “to be” (am, is, are, was, were, been, being) always appears in passive voice sentences. This verb acts as a helper to show that the subject is receiving rather than performing the action.
• The Past Participle Describes the Action: The past participle form of the main verb (written, completed, analyzed, delivered) follows the “to be” verb.
• The Optional “By” Phrase Identifies the Actor: The phrase “by [subject]” identifies who performed the action, but this element is optional in passive voice. Many passive sentences omit the actor entirely, which is precisely why passive voice can obscure responsibility and weaken writing clarity.

Understanding the difference between passive and active voice formulas helps writers identify which structure they’re using. The active voice formula reverses the passive structure:

Active Voice Formula: Subject + Verb + Object

In active voice, the actor (subject) comes first, performs the action (verb), and the action affects the object. Using our previous example: “Sarah wrote the report” follows the active formula where Sarah (subject) + wrote (verb) + the report (object).

Why Passive Voice Is Grammatically Correct

One of the most persistent myths in writing education is that passive voice is grammatically incorrect. This misconception causes unnecessary confusion for writers who encounter passive voice in professional and academic contexts.

The truth is that passive voice is a completely valid grammatical structure in English. It’s not a grammar error or rule violation, it’s a stylistic choice.

The distinction between “grammatically correct” and “stylistically effective” is crucial for writers to understand. Passive voice is grammatically correct because it follows established English syntax rules. However, it’s often stylistically weak because it obscures the actor, creates wordiness, and reduces reader engagement.

Why Passive Voice Weakens Your Writing

The most critical weakness of passive voice is, it obscures responsibility and hide the actor performing the action. This “who problem” creates ambiguity that weakens writing clarity and can even be used to evade accountability in professional and political contexts.

The Classic Example: “Mistakes Were Made”

The phrase “mistakes were made” became infamous in political discourse precisely because it uses passive voice to avoid admitting who made the mistakes. This construction removes the subject entirely, creating a statement that acknowledges error without accepting responsibility. Compare this to the active alternative: “I made mistakes” or “Our team made mistakes.” The active versions immediately clarify accountability.

How Passive Voice Creates the “Who Problem” in Business Writing:

• Passive (Unclear): “The deadline was missed, and the project was delayed.”
• Active (Clear): “The development team missed the deadline and delayed the project.”
• Analysis: The passive version obscures responsibility, making it impossible to identify who caused the delay or who should address the issue.

Research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center demonstrates that passive voice constructions require an average of 20-30% more words to express the same information that active voice delivers concisely.

Word Count Comparison Examples:

• Passive (9 words): “The decision was made by the executive team yesterday.”
• Active (6 words): “The executive team decided yesterday.”
• Analysis: The passive version uses 50% more words without adding any meaningful information. The extra three words (“was,” “made,” “by”) simply rearrange the sentence structure without improving clarity or comprehension.

How Passive Voice Impacts Readability Scores:

When you write “The report was reviewed by three editors” (7 words, passive) instead of “Three editors reviewed the report” (5 words, active), you’re not just adding two words, you’re increasing sentence complexity and reducing reading efficiency. Multiply this pattern across a 1,500-word article, and passive voice can add 200-400 unnecessary words that slow readers down and weaken engagement metrics.

Active vs. Passive Voice: 5 Clear Example Pairs

Understanding the difference between active and passive voice becomes crystal clear when you see real-world examples side by side. These five example pairs demonstrate exactly how passive voice weakens your writing across different contexts and how active voice creates clarity, engagement, and impact.

Example 1: Business Writing

This classic business writing example demonstrates why passive voice damages professional communication. The passive version obscures responsibility by burying the marketing team at the end of the sentence after the preposition “by.” This construction makes readers work harder to understand who deserves credit for completing the report.

• Passive (10 words): “The quarterly report was completed by the marketing team.”
• Active (7 words): “The marketing team completed the quarterly report.”
• Word Efficiency: Active version saves 30% of words (3 fewer words) while communicating identical information.
• Clarity Improvement: Active voice immediately identifies WHO completed the work, making accountability transparent.
• Professional Impact: Active construction emphasizes the team’s achievement and ownership of results.

Example 2: Blog Content

This blog content example reveals how passive voice creates psychological distance between the writer and reader. The passive version “tips are shared” sounds impersonal and bureaucratic, as if the tips magically appeared without a helpful creator behind them. The active version “this article shares” transforms the article itself into an active helper, creating a warmer, more conversational tone that builds reader trust.

• Passive (7 words): “Helpful tips are shared in this article.”
• Active (6 words): “This article shares helpful tips.”
• Engagement Impact: Active voice transforms the article from passive information container into active helper.
• SEO Benefit: Active voice’s concise structure improves readability scores essential for ranking blog content.

Example 3: Instructional Writing

This instructional writing example demonstrates why tutorials, how-to guides, and user documentation must eliminate passive voice entirely. The passive version “can be saved by clicking” forces readers to mentally translate the instruction into an actionable step, creating cognitive friction that slows task completion and increases user frustration.

• Passive (11 words): “The file can be saved by clicking the Save button.”
• Active (9 words): “Click the Save button to save the file.”
• Instructional Clarity: Active voice command “Click the Save button” provides direct action step users can immediately execute.

Example 4: Storytelling

This storytelling example reveals how passive voice drains energy and agency from narrative writing. The passive version “was opened by Sarah” creates an awkward, stilted rhythm that disrupts the story’s flow. It makes Sarah seem like she’s observing the door opening rather than actively opening it herself, a subtle shift that weakens character agency and reader immersion.

• Passive (11 words): “The door was opened by Sarah as she entered the room.”
• Active (9 words): “Sarah opened the door and entered the room.”
• Character Agency: Active voice gives Sarah direct control of actions, creating stronger character presence.
• Narrative Energy: “Sarah opened” creates vivid, immediate action versus passive “was opened” which feels distant and weak.

Example 5: Email Communication

This email communication example demonstrates how passive voice damages trust and credibility in professional correspondence.

• Passive (8 words): “Your feedback will be reviewed by our team.”
• Active (7 words): “Our team will review your feedback.”
• Trust Building: Active voice “Our team will review” shows real people taking responsibility, not faceless bureaucracy.

When you write any of these passive constructions in Orwellix, the platform’s readability checker will highlight the passive voice constructions with blue flags instantly, prompting revision before you send business reports, publish blog posts, deliver tutorials, craft stories, or email clients.

This real-time detection helps content creators producing high-volume work maintain consistent active voice quality across all content types, ensuring that whether you’re writing a marketing email at 9 AM or a blog post at 3 PM, your writing maintains the clarity, engagement, and professionalism that defines excellent content.

The Zombie Test: A Simple Trick to Spot Passive Voice

The Zombie Test is one of the most popular and memorable tricks writers use to identify passive voice constructions quickly.

This technique works because passive voice constructions follow the formula Object + Verb “to be” + Past Participle + (by Subject), where the “by Subject” phrase is optional. Since passive voice always allows an actor to be added with “by” even when that actor is as absurd as “zombies”, the phrase “by zombies” becomes grammatically compatible with any passive construction.

How to Use the Zombie Test: Step-by-Step

1. Locate the Main Verb: Find the primary verb in your sentence, the word that describes the action or state of being. In “The report was completed yesterday,” the main verb is “was completed.”
2. Insert “By Zombies” After the Verb: Try adding the phrase “by zombies” immediately after the verb you identified. Using our example: “The report was completed [by zombies] yesterday.”
3. Evaluate Grammatical Sense: Does the sentence still make grammatical sense with “by zombies” inserted, even if it sounds ridiculous? If yes, you’ve identified passive voice. If the sentence becomes nonsensical or grammatically incorrect, it’s active voice.
4. Rewrite in Active Voice: Once you’ve confirmed passive voice, rewrite the sentence by identifying the real actor (who actually performed the action) and making them the subject. Change “The report was completed [by zombies] yesterday” to “The team completed the report yesterday.”

Applying the Zombie Test to your writing requires just four simple steps that take seconds to execute. This systematic approach helps you identify passive voice constructions that might be weakening your content without requiring deep grammatical analysis.

Practice Examples:

Try applying the Zombie Test to these three sentences before reading the answers:

• Example 1: “The cake was eaten [by zombies]” ✓ Passive voice detected → Active rewrite: “Someone ate the cake” or “The guests ate the cake”.
• Example 2: “The door was left open [by zombies]” ✓ Passive voice detected → Active rewrite: “Someone left the door open” or “The custodian left the door open”.
• Example 3: “The team completed the project [by zombies]” ✗ Active voice confirmed → No rewrite needed, this sentence is already active and direct.

These practice examples demonstrate how the Zombie Test quickly distinguishes between passive constructions (Examples 1 and 2) that need revision and active constructions (Example 3) that are already strong.

When to Use Passive Voice (Yes, Sometimes It’s Acceptable!)

1. Scientific and Technical Writing

Scientific and technical writing represents one of the few contexts where passive voice is not only acceptable but often preferred by editors, journals, and academic institutions.

According to research from the Council of Science Editors, passive voice in scientific writing serves a specific rhetorical purpose: it shifts focus from the researcher (who performed the experiment) to the methodology and results (what was observed).

This construction emphasizes that scientific findings should be reproducible regardless of who conducts the experiment, reinforcing the objectivity that defines rigorous scientific inquiry.

For example, the sentence “The samples were tested at room temperature for 24 hours” focuses reader attention on the experimental conditions rather than on who performed the testing. This passive construction is methodologically appropriate because the identity of the researcher is irrelevant to the validity of the results.

For content creators writing about scientific topics for general audiences such as blog posts explaining research findings, science journalism, or educational content, active voice is almost always the better choice. Your readers want clear, engaging explanations, not the formal distance of academic papers.

Save passive voice for actual laboratory reports and academic journal submissions where institutional conventions require it.

2. When the Actor Is Unknown or Irrelevant

Passive voice serves a legitimate purpose when the actor (the person or thing performing the action) is genuinely unknown, impossible to identify, or completely irrelevant to the message you’re communicating. This represents one of the clearest distinctions between appropriate and inappropriate passive voice usage.

According to journalism style guides from organizations like the Associated Press and Reuters, news reporting frequently employs passive voice when perpetrators are unidentified or when the focus should remain on the event itself rather than unknown actors. This usage is both grammatically correct and rhetorically appropriate.

Consider the sentence “The window was broken overnight.” This passive construction is entirely appropriate because the identity of who broke the window is unknown. Converting this to active voice would require inventing an actor (“Someone broke the window overnight” or “An unknown person broke the window overnight”), which adds unnecessary words without providing meaningful information.

Similarly, crime reporting often uses passive voice: “The bank was robbed at 3 AM Friday morning” is standard journalistic style when suspects haven’t been identified. The passive construction keeps focus on the crime (the newsworthy event) rather than on unknown perpetrators.

3. Formal and Legal Documents

Legal documents, formal contracts, and policy statements represent another context where passive voice appears frequently, though even this traditional stronghold is experiencing pressure from the plain language movement that advocates for clearer, more accessible legal writing.

Traditionally, legal writing has favored passive voice to create professional distance, emphasize obligations and requirements over individuals, and maintain the formal, impersonal tone that characterizes official documents. This stylistic preference reflects legal writing’s focus on rules, procedures, and requirements rather than on the specific people who must follow them.

For example, a rental agreement might state: “Rent must be paid by the first of each month” rather than “Tenants must pay rent by the first of each month.” The passive construction emphasizes the requirement itself (rent payment) rather than focusing on the obligated party (tenants). This subtle shift creates what legal professionals consider appropriate professional distance in contractual language.

Similarly, policy documents frequently use passive voice to emphasize rules over rule-makers: “Identification must be presented at all security checkpoints” focuses on the requirement rather than on who must present ID or who created the policy. This construction allows the rule to stand independently without attributing it to specific policy-makers, which can be strategically useful in institutional contexts.

If you’re writing for legal professionals or in highly formal institutional contexts where traditional style is expected, selective passive voice may be appropriate.

When to Kill Passive Voice (Stories, Blogs, and Engaging Content)

While passive voice has legitimate uses in scientific reports, formal documents, and specific rhetorical situations, the vast majority of content marketing, storytelling, and business communication demands active voice for maximum impact.

Content creators producing blogs, marketing copy, tutorials, and narrative content must eliminate passive voice ruthlessly to create the clarity, engagement, and persuasive power that modern audiences expect.

1. Creative Writing and Storytelling

Creative writing including fiction, narrative essays, memoir, and story-driven blog posts represents the content type where passive voice does the most damage to reader engagement and emotional impact. Storytelling demands active voice to create vivid scenes, dynamic character agency, and emotional immediacy that keeps readers turning pages.

Consider this passive voice example: “The door was slammed by Sarah as anger was felt by her.” This construction creates awkward, stilted prose that makes Sarah feel like a passive observer of her own actions rather than an active participant in the scene. The sentence structure literally removes Sarah’s agency by making her grammatically secondary to the door.

Compare this to the active voice rewrite: “Sarah slammed the door, anger flooding through her.” This version gives Sarah direct control of her actions, creates immediate visceral impact, and allows readers to experience the emotional intensity of the moment. The active construction makes readers feel Sarah’s anger rather than observe it from a distance.

The Rare Exception: Strategic Passive Voice for Powerlessness:

The only legitimate use of passive voice in creative writing is deliberate stylistic choice to show a character’s powerlessness, victimization, or lack of control in a specific moment. For example, “She was pushed into the car by hands she couldn’t see” uses passive voice strategically to emphasize the character’s helplessness and the mysterious nature of her attackers.

However, even this exception should be used sparingly, perhaps 1-2 times in an entire novel or article because overusing this technique dilutes its impact and makes your overall writing feel weak.

2. Blog Posts and Content Marketing

Blog posts and content marketing represent the largest category of content where passive voice consistently damages reader engagement, conversion rates, and SEO performance. Unlike academic writing where passive voice may serve specific purposes, blog content exists solely to engage readers, build trust, and drive actions goals that passive voice systematically undermines.

Consider the passive voice example: “Great results can be achieved with our strategy.” This construction sounds tentative and impersonal, as if the strategy might work under certain conditions for certain people. The sentence structure removes the human element and creates psychological distance between the brand and reader.

Compare this to active voice alternatives: “Our strategy achieves great results” provides direct assertion but still maintains third-person distance. The even stronger option “You’ll achieve great results with our strategy” transforms the sentence into a direct promise that puts the reader at the center of the benefit.

SEO Benefits of Active Voice in Blog Content:

Beyond engagement, active voice provides concrete SEO advantages that passive voice undermines. Search engines prioritize content that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) qualities that active voice conveys through confident, direct assertions. Passive voice’s tentative, evasive tone signals lower authority to both readers and algorithms.

Active voice typically produces shorter, punchier sentences that improve readability scores, a ranking factor that search engines increasingly prioritize. When you write “Content creators achieve better results with active voice” (8 words, active) instead of “Better results are achieved by content creators with active voice” (10 words, passive), you’re not just saving 2 words, you’re improving the sentence clarity that contributes to better SEO performance.

3. Email Marketing and Business Communication

Email marketing and business communication represent high-stakes contexts where passive voice can severely damage professional credibility, client relationships, and response rates. Unlike blog content where readers can abandon without consequence, email communication often determines whether business relationships succeed or fail.

The passive voice problem in email: “Your request will be processed” sounds evasive and bureaucratic. This construction triggers three immediate concerns in recipients’ minds: (1) Who will process my request? (2) When will it be processed? (3) Why won’t they commit to specific accountability? The passive construction creates anxiety and distrust precisely when email should build confidence.

Compare this to the active voice solution: “Our team will process your request within 24 hours.” This rewrite transforms vague passivity into concrete accountability by identifying WHO will take action (our team) and WHEN it will happen (within 24 hours). The active construction demonstrates responsiveness and builds the trust essential for professional relationships.

4. Instructional Content and Tutorials

Instructional content including software tutorials, recipe instructions, assembly guides, how-to articles, and user documentation represents the content type where passive voice creates the most severe usability problems and user frustration. Instructions exist to guide users through specific actions, and passive voice systematically obscures the clear “do this” commands that effective instructions require.

The passive voice problem in instructions: “The file can be saved by clicking the Save button” forces users to mentally translate the instruction into an actionable step. This cognitive translation creates friction at the exact moment when users need maximum clarity to complete tasks successfully.

Compare this to the active voice command: “Click the Save button to save the file.” This rewrite transforms tentative possibility into confident directive. The active voice command tells users exactly what to do (“Click the Save button”) and what outcome to expect (“to save the file”). No mental translation required, just clear and executable instruction.

5. Social Media and Marketing Copy

Social media and marketing copy represent the most competitive, attention-scarce environments where passive voice’s weakness becomes immediately punishing.

Unlike long-form blog posts where readers may tolerate occasional passive constructions, social media’s character limits and split-second attention spans demand maximum impact in minimum words, precisely what active voice delivers and passive voice undermines.

The passive voice problem in marketing copy: “Amazing features are offered by our platform” wastes 7 words describing what the platform does without creating any emotional connection or urgency. The passive construction buries the platform (the brand) after “by,” making it grammatically secondary to abstract “features.” This structure violates the fundamental principle of effective marketing: put the customer or benefit first, not the product as an afterthought.

Compare this to the active voice improvement: “Our platform offers amazing features” (5 words, active) saves 2 words while making the brand (“our platform”) the subject performing action. This version is better but still product-focused rather than customer-focused.

The even stronger active alternative: “Discover amazing features that transform your workflow” (7 words, active) makes the customer (“you”) the implicit subject receiving benefits. This customer-centric active construction creates the direct engagement and outcome focus that converts casual scrollers into interested prospects.

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide has equipped you with everything you need to master passive voice recognition, understand when to eliminate it ruthlessly, and apply the rare legitimate uses that serve clear rhetorical purposes.

The path forward is clear: start by experiencing how automated passive voice detection transforms your editing workflow. Try Orwellix’s free passive voice checker to scan existing content and see exactly where passive constructions are weakening your writing.

Master active voice, eliminate the passive constructions that weaken your message, and watch your writing transform from adequate to exceptional. Your readers want clarity, your clients demand engagement, and your career requires the consistent quality that defines professional excellence.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What’s the fastest way to check if a sentence uses passive voice?

Use the Zombie Test: add “by zombies” after the verb. If the sentence still makes grammatical sense (even if it sounds silly), you’ve identified passive voice. For example, “The report was written [by zombies]” works grammatically, confirming passive voice.

2. Is passive voice always wrong or grammatically incorrect?

No, passive voice is completely grammatically correct, the issue is typically style and effectiveness. Research shows it reduces engagement by 20-42% by obscuring responsibility and adding wordiness. However, it serves legitimate purposes in scientific writing, legal documents, or when the actor is unknown.

3. How much passive voice is acceptable in blog posts and content marketing?

Content marketing and blog posts should contain less than 5-10% passive voice for maximum reader engagement. Studies show that active voice generates 23-42% higher engagement rates across blogs, emails, and marketing content.

4. Why do scientific papers use passive voice if it weakens writing?

Scientific writing traditionally uses passive voice to emphasize methodology and results over individual researchers, reinforcing that findings should be reproducible regardless of who conducts the experiment. However, modern scientific style guides are shifting toward active voice for improved clarity.

5. Can passive voice be used strategically for better writing?

Yes, but only in specific situations: when the actor is genuinely unknown (“The window was broken overnight”), when emphasizing recipients over actors serves clear purposes (“The award was given to Maria Lopez”), or when showing character powerlessness in creative writing. These strategic applications should comprise less than 5% of your content.

6. How can I quickly improve passive voice in my existing content?

Start by scanning your content with Orwellix’s free passive voice checker to identify all passive constructions. Then systematically convert each passive sentence by identifying the real actor and making them the subject: change “The report was completed by the team” to “The team completed the report.” This process typically reduces word count by 20-30% while improving readability scores and engagement metrics essential for content marketing success.