How can you use active voice to make your message clear and concise?

1 What is active voice?

Active voice is a way of writing that shows who or what performs the action in a sentence. For example, "The manager approved the budget" is an active voice sentence, because it clearly states who did the action. In contrast, passive voice is a way of writing that shows who or what receives the action in a sentence. For example, "The budget was approved by the manager" is a passive voice sentence, because it emphasizes the action rather than the doer.

2 Why is active voice important?

Using active voice in your writing is essential to ensure it is direct, clear, and concise. This helps you avoid ambiguity, confusion, and wordiness. It also conveys confidence, authority, and responsibility. Active voice can engage your readers and keep their attention, deliver your message quickly and effectively, highlight your achievements and contributions, demonstrate respect and accountability for your actions, and prevent misunderstandings and errors.

3 How to identify active voice?

To identify active voice, you can use a simple test: add "by someone" or "by something" after the verb in your sentence. If the sentence still makes sense, it is passive voice; however, if the sentence does not make sense, it is active voice. For instance, if you say "The report was submitted by someone," it is passive voice; conversely, if you say "The report submitted by someone," it does not make sense and is therefore active voice.

4 How to use active voice?

In order to use active voice, you must first identify the subject, verb, and object of your sentence. The subject is the person or thing that performs the action, the verb is the action or state of being, and the object is the person or thing that receives the action. Once these elements are identified, arrange them in the order of subject-verb-object. For example, instead of saying "The invoice was sent by me," say "I sent the invoice."

5 How to avoid passive voice?

Being aware of common situations that may lead to the use of passive voice is essential to avoid it. These include wanting to be polite or diplomatic, avoiding blame or criticism, emphasizing a result or outcome, or not knowing or wanting to hide the subject. To use active voice in these cases, you can choose appropriate words and tone. For instance, instead of saying "The deadline was missed by our team," you could say "Our team missed the deadline. We apologize for the inconvenience and we are working hard to complete the project."

6 How to practice active voice?

As an office administrator, practicing active voice can help you improve your writing skills and communicate more effectively. To do so, you can rewrite passive voice sentences into active voice sentences, use online tools or apps that check your grammar and voice, ask for feedback from your peers or mentors, and read and analyze good examples of active voice writing. This way, you can make sure your message is clear and concise, while also demonstrating your professionalism and confidence.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?