Coming Up Next now playing Learning English Grammar Active and passive voice 6 mins Learning English Grammar Comparatives and superlatives 6 mins Learning English Grammar Adverb position We talk about ...

Writing in the active voice makes the meaning clear while keeping sentences from becoming complicated and wordy. Sentences using passive voice are not necessarily wrong, just less effective than ...

What is the difference between the active and passive voice? We usually try to write in the active voice because it’s easier to understand. In the active voice the subject ‘does’ the action: Notice ...

Microsoft Word 2010 can help punch up your document's prose by alerting you when you use passive voice in a sentence. If you write "the goal was achieved" instead of the more active "we achieved the ...

One "rule" that many self-appointed experts on writing return to again and again is: "Don't use the passive!" Or, as some puckishly put it, "The passive voice should be avoided." The passive voice is ...

THE cult of the active voice is an enduring influence in English grammar. From grade school onwards most everybody is taught that sentences in the active voice are the end-all and be-all of English, ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Laura Brown writes about business communication. If you’ve ever had any writing training, either at school or on the job, you’ve ...

The great thing about being a grammar expert is you don’t have to know anything about grammar to be one. Just launch a blog, say whatever you think is true and bask in the certainty that no one will ...

Sign up for The Media Today, CJR’s daily newsletter. Strunk & White hated it. George Orwell did, too. Nearly every grammar text and English teacher say it: The ...

1. The voice of the verb is distinct from its tense. Don't confuse the passive voice with the past tense. (Sentence 2 happens to be in the past tense, but 3 is not; both 2 and 3 are in the passive ...