Active voice: use it on purpose, not by rule

In one minute

Active voice puts the actor before the action: "The committee rejected the proposal," not "The proposal was rejected." It usually makes writing more direct and easier to follow — but passive voice is a real tool too, for when the actor is unknown, unimportant, or deliberately being left out.

Why it matters

Plain-language standards favor active voice because it keeps the actor and the action next to each other, so the reader does not have to hold the sentence open while searching for who did what.

The common failure mode is not "using passive voice" — it is using it by default, out of habit or to soften a sentence, rather than because the sentence genuinely has no actor worth naming.

See it

The active version names who acted. The passive original can read as responsibility quietly going missing — sometimes the actual reason a sentence turns passive.

Try it

Find a sentence using "was" or "were" plus a past participle (was rejected, were made, was decided). Ask who did the acting. If you can name them in one word, rewrite the sentence with that word as the subject.

When not to use it

Passive voice is correct when the actor is genuinely unknown ("the window was broken overnight"), irrelevant to the point ("the results were reviewed twice"), or when the action itself, not its agent, is what the sentence is about. Forcing every sentence active can also flatten voice in fiction, where withholding the actor can be the point.

How SeamWriter notices it

SeamWriter can detect the passive construction itself. It cannot judge whether leaving the actor out was a deliberate, correct choice for that sentence — only a human reader with the context can.

For different writers

Writing professionally

Passive voice is often reached for to avoid naming who is responsible. Before using it, check whether that is a style choice or an avoidance.

Writing fiction

A narrator can use passive voice to convey helplessness, distance, or not knowing who acted — all legitimate choices tied to character and point of view, not writing faults.

Learning to write

Try reading your sentence and asking "who did this?" If you can answer in one word, put that word at the front of the sentence.