Most English sentences are in the active voice: the subject does the action. Sam wrote the report. In the passive voice the sentence is turned around, so the subject is the thing the action is done to: The report was written by Sam. The doer moves to the end behind by, or disappears altogether: The report was written last week.
How to recognise it
A passive verb is a form of to be followed by a past participle:
- The window was broken.
- Your order has been shipped.
- The results will be announced on Friday.
- The bridge is being repaired.
A quick test: if you can add "by someone" after the verb and the sentence still makes sense, it is passive. The window was broken by someone works. Sam was tired by someone does not: there, tired describes Sam, and the sentence is not passive at all.
Two things are often mistaken for the passive. The past tense is not passive (Sam wrote is active), and neither is every use of was (Sam was writing is the active voice in a continuous tense).
When the passive is the right choice
The passive voice is correct grammar, and sometimes it is the better sentence:
- The doer is unknown: My bike was stolen.
- The doer does not matter: The museum was built in 1902. The builders are not the point.
- The receiver is the topic: in a paragraph about a patient, She was treated with antibiotics keeps the focus where the reader's attention is.
- Method sections and procedures: The samples were heated to 80 °C. Scientific writing uses the passive to describe what was done rather than who did it, although many journals now accept the active voice too.
When to turn it around
The passive costs words and can blur responsibility. Mistakes were made is the famous example: true, and silent about who made them. Turn a passive sentence active when:
- Someone should own the action: The deadline was missed becomes We missed the deadline.
- The sentence feels heavy: It was decided by the committee that the event would be postponed becomes The committee postponed the event.
- Instructions are meant to be followed: The form should be signed is weaker than Sign the form.
To make a sentence active, find who does the action, make them the subject, and put the verb in its active form: The prize was won by Lena becomes Lena won the prize.
How the spell checker helps
Because a passive sentence is grammatically correct, it is not something a spelling or grammar check should mark as an error, and the choice between active and passive stays yours. What the Spell Checker offers is a style pass: turn on Picky mode and it also points out wordy phrases and repetition, which is often where a long passive construction shows up. For a second opinion on a whole paragraph, the AI Spell Checker reads it in context.