Use active voice not passive voice
Located in: Writing
Why you shouldn't use passive voice:
- it's ambigious
- it's not clear who is responsible
Spot when you are using passive voice
Monzo's Tone of Voice includes a great approach to differentiating between passive vs active voice:
Add ‘...by monkeys’ to the end of any phrase you think might be passive. If it still makes sense, then it’s passive!
They provide examples written in the passive voice:
- A decision has been made to close your account …by monkeys
- This bug will be fixed in the next update ...by monkeys
- If you make a complaint, it will be escalated to a complaint specialist ...by monkeys
And examples of how it doesn't work with active voice:
- We’ve decided to close your account ...by monkeys
- We’ll fix this bug in the next update ... by monkeys
- If you make a complaint, we’ll escalate it to a complaint specialist ...by monkeys
Other Examples
Passive: “The date should be entered in a 00/00/0000 format.” Active: “Use 00/00/0000 format”
Passive: This bug will be fixed in the next update. Active: We’ll fix this bug in the next update.