active voice

A sentence construction that in which the subject acts upon the object. As opposed to passive voice, in this sentence the subject directly performs the action.

Examples:

  • He threw the ball.
  • The senator offered a new amendment to the bill.
  • The police officers used their bicycles as a barrier to push back against the protesters.

In passive voice construction, the object is placed as the subject. The above sentences would be reworded as:

  • The ball was thrown by him.
  • A new amendment to the bill was offered by the senator.
  • Bicycles were used as a barrier by the police to push back against the protesters.

Notice in the last example how agency becomes lost. An editor may even take out the words the police to make the sentence more concise. Keeping the sentence in active voice is best.

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