When to use passive voice (and why it is not always wrong)
The advice to avoid passive voice is a default, not a ban. These are the situations where the passive is the better choice, and how to tell them apart from habit.
Most style advice tells you to prefer the active voice, and for good reason: active sentences name the actor, follow a natural order, and tend to be shorter. The active vs. passive voice guide explains why. But “prefer” is not “always”. The passive exists because it does things the active cannot do as well.
The question to ask about any passive sentence is simple: what does the reader need to know first, and do they need to know who acted? The cases below are where the honest answer favors the passive.
When the actor is unknown
Sometimes nobody knows who did it. Forcing an actor into the sentence produces vague subjects like “someone” or “a person or persons”.
- My bike was stolen last night.
- The painting was damaged sometime before 1900.
- The building was constructed in the 1920s.
“Someone stole my bike last night” works too, and it is a little more vivid. But “My bike was stolen” keeps the focus where you want it: on your bike.
When the actor is obvious or unimportant
If the reader already knows who acted, or would not care, naming the actor adds words and no information.
- He was elected to the Senate in 2018. (By voters, obviously.)
- The road will be repaved next month. (By a crew the reader will never meet.)
- Applications are processed in the order they arrive.
Before: The city’s road maintenance crews will repave Elm Street next month.
After: Elm Street will be repaved next month.
Here the passive version is shorter and puts the street, which residents care about, at the front. If residents might want to complain to the crews, name them.
When the receiver is the real subject
Sometimes the thing acted upon is what the sentence is about. Medical, legal, and news writing often work this way.
- The patient was discharged on Monday.
- The defendant was found not guilty.
- Three hikers were rescued from the ridge after a two-day search.
In each case, the reader cares about the patient, the defendant, and the hikers. Rewriting them in the active (“The hospital discharged the patient”) shifts attention to the institution, which may be the wrong emphasis.
In scientific methods sections
Many scientific fields have traditionally written methods sections in the passive: “The solution was heated to 80 °C.” The reasoning is that the procedure matters, not the person who ran it, and that any competent researcher should get the same result.
This is a convention, and it varies. Many journals and style guides now accept or encourage the active voice with “we”: “We heated the solution to 80 °C.” Some fields have shifted strongly; others have not. If you write for a particular journal or instructor, check their guidelines or recent published papers and follow them.
Even within a passive-heavy methods section, avoid stacking passives so deeply that the reader cannot tell what happened in what order.
Before: After the samples were collected, they were sorted and were then sent to the lab where they were analyzed.
After: The samples were collected, sorted, and sent to the lab for analysis.
To keep the topic in subject position
This is the subtlest use, and one of the most valuable. Readers follow a paragraph more easily when each sentence starts with something they already know and ends with something new. Sometimes the passive is the only way to keep that known element at the front.
Consider a paragraph about a new vaccine:
Before: A new vaccine for the virus has been developed. Researchers at three universities tested it last year. Regulators approved the vaccine in March.
After: A new vaccine has been developed. It was tested at three universities last year and approved in March.
In the After version, the vaccine stays the subject. The reader never has to switch focus to researchers and then to regulators and back again. The two passives earn their place because they keep the paragraph about one thing.
For tact
Passives can soften a message by not pointing at a person. Used carefully, this is kindness. Used carelessly, it is evasion.
Fair uses:
- “This invoice has not been paid.” (Less accusing than “You have not paid this invoice” in a first reminder.)
- “The meeting room was left untidy.” (A general note to a team, when singling out one person would be unfair.)
Unfair uses:
- “Mistakes were made.” (When the writer made them.)
- “Your data may have been accessed.” (When the company should say what happened and who is responsible.)
The test is whether the reader needs to know the actor in order to understand or act. If a customer needs to know who to contact, or whether the company accepts responsibility, the passive hides something that matters.
In general statements and rules
Rules, definitions, and general truths often read naturally in the passive because the actor is “anyone” or “everyone”.
- Smoking is not permitted on the platform.
- The term is defined in section 2.
- Late submissions will not be accepted.
An active version (“You may not smoke on the platform”) is often friendlier, and plain-language guidance tends to recommend it for documents addressed to the public. But in signs, contracts, and reference material, the passive is common and acceptable.
How to decide
When the passive voice finder highlights a sentence, ask:
- Does the reader need to know who acted? If yes, use active.
- Is the receiver the real topic? If yes, passive is fine.
- Does the passive keep the paragraph’s focus steady? If yes, keep it.
- Am I hiding someone, including myself? If yes, rewrite in active.
Remember that the finder is a heuristic. It flags some adjectives, like “worried” or “tired”, that only look like passives, and it misses a few real ones. The decision is yours.
Tip: If most sentences in a paragraph are passive, rewrite one or two in active and reread. A mix usually reads better than either extreme.
Try it on your own text
was made marks a likely passive. It is a heuristic: check each one.