I won’t lie to you: I love grammar and linguistics.
Give me a sentence to diagram, and I’m in my element (how nerdy, I know).
But I also know that for most people, grammar discussions can feel like sitting through a middle school English lecture you didn’t ask for.
So let’s keep this simple.
Understanding the difference between active and passive voice isn’t just something you learn in school and then leave behind forever (*cough* the Pythagorean theorem).
Active vs passive voice affects how you show up at work, how you talk about your achievements, and whether or not you give yourself the credit you deserve.
Here’s what you actually need to know about passive vs. active voice and how to use it to your advantage.
Active vs Passive Voice
Active vs Passive Voice: How to Tell
You don’t need a degree in linguistics to spot passive voice. (that’s what makes it such a quick fix for upping your language game)
Ask yourself one question: Is the subject doing the action, or receiving it?
Active Voice
The subject does the action. Clear, direct, and accountable.
Example: “I launched the new marketing campaign.”
Passive Voice
The subject receives the action—and sometimes the person doing it disappears entirely.
Example: “The new marketing campaign was launched.”
The Zombie Test
If you want a quick shortcut, use the “By Zombies” test:
If you can add the phrase “by zombies” after the verb and the sentence still makes grammatical sense (not literal sense because, well, zombies), then you’re looking at passive voice.
Take these passive examples:
- The quiz was taken (by zombies)
- The village was destroyed (by zombies) at night
- The meeting was canceled (by zombies)
When to use Passive Voice
Despite what your GUM teacher might’ve said, passive voice isn’t inherently evil. It actually serves a purpose when used intentionally.
The actor is genuinely unknown or unimportant
“The package was delivered at noon.”
In this case, we care about the delivery, not the delivery driver.
You deliberately want to shift focus to the receiver
“Millions of people were impacted by the power outage.”
We want to show the impact rather than the reason.
You need professional diplomacy
“The deadline was missed” sounds less finger-pointing than “You missed the deadline.”
Here, passive voice is useful to not assign blame.
The key to using passive voice is intentionality.
Don’t Minimize Yourself with Passive Voice
While passive voice is useful, it can also be a sort of trap.
We sometimes hide behind passive voice because it creates a safety buffer.
It softens our communication so we don’t feel “too arrogant” or “brag-heavy.” But it also strips away our agency.
Look at how these two statements land:
- Passive: “The database optimization was led and completed ahead of schedule.”
- Active: “I led the database optimization and completed it ahead of schedule.”
When you remove yourself from the subject line, you let someone else—or no one at all—take credit for your effort.
Active voice places you in the same sentence as your accomplishment. Own it.
Future you will thank you.
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