Readability is important for any written content. Using active voice is especially important for technical marketing content because passive voice quickly begins to sound like a “how to” set of instructions. True, but boring. Why is that?

Let’s look at some simple, definitive examples to see quick ways to increase the readability and comprehension by knowing how to change from passive voice to active voice. This is a must-read and must-do process for any content creators. Use these tips and tricks and you’ll find yourself with increased time on page, and decreased bounce rates.

Let’s start with the fundamentals.

What are Passive Voice and Active Voice?

Active voice is a construction in which the subject of a sentence performs the action expressed by the verb. It is a straightforward and direct way of presenting information. In active voice, the subject comes before the verb, and the subject is the one who performs the action.

Example: Active voice sentences emphasize the subject as the doer of the action. For instance, “John wrote the report” clearly indicates that John is the one who performed the action of writing the report.

Passive voice is a construction in which the subject of a sentence receives the action expressed by the verb. It is used when the focus is on the recipient of the action rather than the doer. In passive voice sentences, the structure is different from active voice sentences.

Example: Passive voice allows the recipient of the action to be emphasized. For instance, “The report was written by John” places the focus on the report rather than John. The subject of the sentence, “The report,” is receiving the action of being written, and the agent, “John,” is mentioned to indicate who performed the action, although it is not always necessary.

Seems simple, right? You’d be surprised how many of us spend most of our time writing in passive voice…and it’s wrecking your reader retention.

Why is Active Voice more Readable than Passive Voice?

Here are the most compelling reasons why active voice is more readable than passive voice:

1. Clarity – Active voice ensures clarity by explicitly stating the subject that performs the action. Readers can easily understand who is doing what in the sentence.
2. Directness – Active voice communicates the message directly and concisely. It eliminates unnecessary complexity and delivers information in a straightforward manner.
3. Engagement – Active voice engages readers by highlighting the doer of the action. It creates a sense of involvement and makes the writing more lively and interesting.
4. Efficiency – Active voice allows for more efficient and concise sentences. It requires fewer words to convey the same information compared to passive voice, enabling readers to grasp the content more quickly.

Active voice enhances readability through its clarity, directness, engagement, and efficiency. Passive voice describes how an action is taken by a subject. You want to use active voice so the subject performs the action. That is different than the action being performed on the subject. Active voice makes the sentence more engaging and easily understandable. The focus becomes the subject which is often the reader.

How Do You Know if You’re Writing in Passive Voice?

It’s surprisingly simple to identify if you’re writing in passive voice by looking for a few key indicators:

1. Look for forms of the verb “to be” – Passive voice often involves the use of forms of the verb “to be” (e.g., is, am, are, was, were, has been, have been). These auxiliary verbs are usually accompanied by a past participle.
2. Identify the subject and object – In passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action, while the doer of the action may be mentioned or omitted entirely. If the subject is the one receiving the action and the doer is either absent or appears in a prepositional phrase (e.g., “by” someone), it’s likely passive voice.
3. Check for the active voice alternative – Consider whether you can rephrase the sentence to have the subject perform the action directly. If you can transform the sentence into active voice without changing the meaning, it was likely in passive voice.
4. Pay attention to the emphasis – Passive voice often emphasizes the recipient of the action rather than the doer, which can make the sentence feel less direct and engaging.

When is Passive Voice Appropriate?

Keep your eyes out for these indicators. Spend time after you write to identify instances of passive voice in the content and keep making revisions to improve clarity and readability. It is well worth the effort once you see the final content product.

Content should be written with 80% or more in active voice. Occasional passive voice sentences are good to help give some variation. Sometimes summarizing paragraphs with a passive voice sentence is a good way to mix things up. Effective use of passive voice is a great instrument to help guide the reader’s experience. For example, many short sentences in the paragraph will give you a “punchy”, high-attention reading style, which is then slowed down using passive voice and helps alter the cadence to transition to the next section.

Change from Passive Voice to Active Voice for Readability

Changing from passive voice to active voice involves rephrasing a sentence so the subject of the sentence performs the action rather than receiving it. This makes the sentence more direct and engaging. “How to” articles and technical manuals have almost always been written in passive voice. This is because the focus is on the product.

Blogs and product content are still storytelling. You should treat it accordingly by using writing that is optimized for reading, not word count. Lots of folks will “write like they speak” because of how natural it feels. You also find out that we speak in passive voice a lot through doing this. That’s why storytelling by seasoned and prolific authors is so interesting and draws you in. They have learned how to optimize everything they write for the sole purpose of getting the reader to experience the story, just just read the words.

You won’t find Stephen King writing in passive voice because the goal is making his stories a compelling read. Even chapters are designed for flow and every word, sentence, and paragraph will be optimized for the storytelling effect. Fiction writing seems obviously well-suited for active voice writing. Why should technical content be any different?

How do you make the jump from passive voice to active voice? It can be as easy as 1-2-3!

Converting Technical Content from Passive Voice to Active Voice

All you have to do is break down the sentence into its parts and make the new active voice sentence with the same process. A non-technical sentence like “the kids has been picked up from school by the babysitter” should be changed to “the babysitter picked the kids up from school”. Sounds smoother and more efficient. Even technical content follows the same pattern. You just need to find the action, subject, and simplify as much as you see fit.

EXAMPLE: The application has been cloned to the cloud by the replication process.

Step 1 – Find the Action

This is going to be your verb phrase which is “has been cloned”. The cloning is the action.

Step 2 – Find the Subject

This can seem tricky because we have both a replication process and an application. Each seem like subjects. The selector here is that we want to focus on the replication process. It could be for a cloud data protection process so that is the chosen subject.

Step 3 – Optimize Wording

Have you ever heard the famous quote “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter”? Most people mistakenly attribute this quote to Mark Twain. The quote actually originates from Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher. The original French version is, “Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.” This translates to “I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

Optimize for economy of words by removing unnecessary words. Watch out for unnecessary use of adjectives. It’s easy to get excited about using adjectives to pump up a sentence. Saying that something is exciting versus it being incredibly new and exciting is tempting because of how much it amplifies the “thing”. It’s also distracting and unnecessary in many cases.

Using superlatives is also risky. Superlatives are adjectives used to define a quality as being higher or surpassing another (e.g. best, supreme, ultimate, greatest). The worst thing that occurs is when you combine both an adjective and a superlative like saying something is “very unique”. Not only is it too many words, but it’s actually just incorrect. Being unique is a quality. There is no way to be “very” unique. You’re already as unique as you can get.

A Few Quick Examples to Help Convert Passive Voice to Active Voice

Here’s our a few examples shown in original passive voice, then changed to active voice, and optimized wording:

1. Passive Voice: The application has been cloned to the cloud by the replication process.
2. Active Voice: The replication process cloned the application to the cloud.

Here are few more examples using technical content examples:

1. Passive Voice: The data was analyzed by the software.
2. Active Voice: The software analyzed the data.

We’ve changed the order in a small way with the goal of making the attention being on the software doing the thing.

1. Passive Voice: The error was caused by a malfunctioning component.
2. Active Voice: A malfunctioning component caused the error.

Here it’s the malfunctioning component that we are bringing focus to, less so than the error. That’s because the next thing you will likely do in the paragraph is talk about how to fix the component, not the error.

1. Passive Voice: The code was written by the developer.
2. Active Voice: The developer wrote the code.

You’re writing for the developer, not the code. Your reader identifies themselves. This pulls them into the narrative.

1. Passive Voice: The report will be prepared by the team.
2. Active Voice: The team will prepare the report.

Each example shows us how active voice makes subject of the sentence the one performing the action. Passive voice makes the main focus of the sentence the result or the output of the action instead of the subject who is performing the action. Active voice helps make your content into more concise and straightforward sentences. This greatly increases readability and also increases comprehension.

It’s about Making Reader-Centric Content

The story is always designed to draw in the reader. Using active voice moves your reader into the subject mode. Active voice creates content with 5 key factors that engage and retain your readers.

1. Clarity and Directness: Active voice sentences are typically clearer and more straightforward, as they clearly identify the subject performing the action. This makes the message easier to understand for the reader or listener.
2. Enhanced Readability: Active voice sentences tend to be more engaging and easier to read, as they follow a natural subject-verb-object order. They promote a sense of flow and keep the reader focused on the main point.
3. Active Engagement: Active voice encourages a sense of involvement and active engagement. By clearly identifying the subject as the doer of the action, it conveys a sense of responsibility and accountability, making the message more persuasive and compelling.
4. Efficiency and Conciseness: Active voice often allows for more concise and efficient communication by eliminating unnecessary words and reducing sentence length. This is because active voice doesn’t require the additional words needed for passive constructions.
5. Reader-Centric Approach: Active voice prioritizes the reader or listener by presenting information in a direct and transparent manner. It places the focus on the action and its impact, allowing the audience to better understand and relate to the message being conveyed.

Hopefully this is a quick and effective guide for you. If you want to learn more about effective content creation then subscribe to our newsletter and you’ll get lots of news, tips, and interactive event invitations that are aimed at technical marketers, digital marketers, and content creators.