1. In the Active voice, the subject of the sentence does the acting whereas, in the Passive voice, the subject is acted upon. One can spot passive voice by looking for some form of the verb ‘to be.’ or the preposition ‘by.’
a) Active voice: The Assessee filed an appeal. (the subject, the Assessee, is doing the action in the verb, the filing)
b) Passive voice: The Appeal was filed by the assessee. (the subject, the assessee, is acted upon)
2. The Active voice is clearer & concise, it doesn’t use complex sentences. Passive voice requires extra words to construct a sentence, so active voice is an easy way to slim down the word count.
a) Active voice: Taxpayers violate the rules when they fail to understand them. (10 words)
b) Passive voice: The rules are violated by taxpayers when they fail to understand them. (12 words)
3. The Active voice is easier to comprehend quickly and accurately. People naturally speak in active voice when talking to one another. Therefore, readers are able to understand things written in active voice more efficiently than things written in passive voice.
4. Active voice keeps ambiguity out of the purpose. In passive voice, the writer leaves out the subject, requiring the reader to fill in the missing information.
a) Passive voice: Every week, all confidential material was shredded and discarded. (Who shredded and discarded the material?)
b) Active voice: Every week, the company shredded and discarded all confidential material.
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CA Milind Wadhwani | DISA(ICAI), FAFD(Cert.), CCCA(Cert.), Research (Ph.D.) Scholar | Mobile +91 9826273333 | Mail ID: – MILIND.WADHWANI20@GMAIL.COM
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