Resources - Newsletter Tips Archive
Writing In an Active Voice
Writing is a part of life. Your life. Whether it's writing a memo to communicate with colleagues or whipping up an article for the company newsletter, at some point in your career, you'll be required to write. But no problem, because you already know how to write—right?—and your style is effective, persuasive and gets the job done.
True. But there's probably room for improvement in each of us. The good news is there is a quick writing fix. Starting with two words: active voice.
If you recall from grade school and your years of sentence diagramming, active voice occurs when the subject performs the action, while passive voice occurs when the subject is the action's recipient. It's the difference between,
"Jack broke the vase," and
"The vase was broken by Jack."
See? In the first sentence, the reader automatically engages. The action practically invites us to participate in the scene. Maybe our first thought is, Uh-oh. No dinner for Jack. We care about the situation because it's told in active tense.
But in the second sentence (passive tense), we're only invited to observe the situation. We don't much care that Jack broke the vase. Maybe we care that the vase was broken, but we certainly don't wonder about the repercussions poor Jack might face.
Okay, perhaps this is exaggerated, but you get the point. Put simply, active voice engages, while passive detaches. You can add automatic oomph to your words by simply ensuring your subject is not the recipient of the action, but performs it instead. This minor voice change will alter the whole tone of your piece with just a few keystrokes, and help your reader better retain the message you convey.
