Generally, writing in the active voice should enhance conciseness and clarity 4. "Many English speakers cannot understand basic grammar." ScienceDaily. Passive Voice For a long time scientists wrote in the passive voice when publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals or when writing in other forms, but they now prefer to write in the active voice in most situations 1, 2, 3. A thank you will be said by your readers. Generally speaking, use passive voice when you want to emphasize the object, result, or process of the action, and when the agent is. Now it is your turn-go back over your latest document, email or presentation and look for passive voice. The best choice depends on your purpose, audience, and style. Passive: “Patient’s attitudes were observed by members of the research staff.”Īctive: “The research staff observed patient’s attitudes.”Ĭhanging passive to active voice is one of the easiest fixes I make when I review consent documents and patient materials. Passive: “Blood will be drawn by the nurse.” Regardless of your audience, active voice makes for stronger, clearer writing, and it may increase your writing’s accessibility (1). Passive voice is common in academic writing, so it can be a hard habit to break, especially when you have to switch to writing for a patient audience. ‘Beagle,' Darwin writes at the start of On the Origin of Species, I was much. It may not seem important to you, but if you can write. Active voice makes it clear who is doing what. For the better part of the twentieth century, passive voice held sway in the sciences, and science journals by and large shunned the first personsingular or plural. Active voice is shorter than passive voice (usually only slightly). You’ve likely not thought much about it since high school English, but it’s time to talk about it again-using active voice.
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