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Which sentence is clearer? Which sentence seems more direct and engaging? Which

one is structured the way we usually construct sentences (subjectwhat the subject
is doing/verbpredicate)?

There are many ways that you can avoid passive voice, but planning and revision is
probably the best way. Reread your letters, reports, and presentations before you

deliver them. Passive voice is often a result of someone not knowing exactly what he

or she wants to say.

Often while writing our first drafts, we have not yet pinned down our points.

Consequently, we often have parts of speech out of conventional order or lacking all
together. When this is the case, there's often a perfectly good verb, if not an agent of

action, just to the right of the weak, passive verb. Consider the following example:

Passive Voice Active Voice

The door was shut by me.  I shut the door.

Here, we could easily change the passive sentence, "The door was shut by me," to

the active, "I shut the door." This is probably a good revision because, "I shut the

door" is clearer, tighter, and more engaging than the passive, "The door was shut by
me." A lack of planning will lead to all kinds of awkward language; passive voice is

just one of them.

You can also avoid the passive voice by using strong verbs, as opposed to the weak

verb "to be." "To be" promotes the use of passive voice. Consider the following
example:

The house is a great deal!

The house was recently painted.

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