Examples
Passive voice examples, fixed.
Real-world passives from email, academia, resumes, and news — each with its active rewrite.
The fastest way to internalize the difference between passive and active voice is to watch
the same sentence flip. Below are thirty-plus examples grouped by the places passive voice
loves to hide. Paste your own text into the detector to see which of these
patterns you use.
Business email & workplace writing
PassiveYour request has been received and will be processed shortly.
ActiveWe received your request and will process it this week.
PassiveA decision was made to postpone the launch.
ActiveLeadership decided to postpone the launch.
PassiveThe invoice was sent last Tuesday.
ActiveWe sent the invoice last Tuesday.
PassiveConcerns have been raised about the timeline.
ActiveTwo engineers raised concerns about the timeline.
PassiveThe meeting was rescheduled by the organizer.
ActiveThe organizer rescheduled the meeting.
PassiveIt was determined that additional resources are required.
ActiveWe determined the project needs two more developers.
PassiveMistakes were made in the quarterly forecast.
ActiveOur team overestimated the quarterly forecast.
Why it matters here: workplace passives usually blur accountability. Naming the
actor — we, leadership, the organizer — is not blame; it is clarity about who does what next.
Academic & scientific writing
PassiveThe samples were incubated for 24 hours.
ActiveWe incubated the samples for 24 hours.
PassiveIt has been argued that the model overfits.
ActiveNguyen (2024) argues that the model overfits.
PassiveThe survey was completed by 412 participants.
Active412 participants completed the survey.
PassiveSignificant differences were observed between the groups.
ActiveThe groups differed significantly.
PassiveThe hypothesis was supported by the data.
ActiveThe data support the hypothesis.
A fair caveat: methods sections legitimately use the passive by convention — many
journals now accept or prefer “we incubated…”. Check your target venue; everywhere else in the
paper, active voice reads better.
Resumes & cover letters
PassiveResponsibilities included managing a team of five.
ActiveManaged a team of five engineers.
PassiveThe project was completed under budget.
ActiveDelivered the project 12% under budget.
PassiveNew processes were implemented to reduce errors.
ActiveImplemented three processes that cut errors by 40%.
PassiveWas awarded Employee of the Month twice.
ActiveEarned Employee of the Month twice.
Why it matters here: recruiters scan for verbs. A resume in the passive voice reads
like things merely happened near you; active verbs claim the work you actually did.
News & reports
PassiveProtesters were dispersed by police using tear gas.
ActivePolice dispersed protesters with tear gas.
PassiveThe bill was passed by the Senate late Thursday.
ActiveThe Senate passed the bill late Thursday.
PassiveTwelve homes were destroyed by the wildfire.
ActiveThe wildfire destroyed twelve homes.
PassiveThe data breach was discovered by an outside researcher.
ActiveAn outside researcher discovered the data breach.
Everyday writing
PassiveThe cake was eaten before I arrived.
ActiveSomeone ate the cake before I arrived.
PassiveMy car is being repaired at the moment.
ActiveThe garage is repairing my car.
PassiveThe tickets were bought months ago.
ActiveWe bought the tickets months ago.
PassiveDinner will be served at eight.
ActiveWe serve dinner at eight.
PassiveThe window got broken during the storm.
ActiveThe storm broke the window.
Passives worth keeping
Not every example above must be rewritten. These are fine as they are:
- “My bike was stolen last night.” — the thief is unknown; the passive is honest.
- “The suspect was arrested at the scene.” — the arrestee is the story, not the officers.
- “The bridge was built in 1932.” — nobody needs the contractor's name.
The skill is not avoiding the passive; it is choosing it on purpose. The
full guide covers the grammar and the judgment calls — or
test your own text in the detector →