Primarily, the aim of technical writing is to inform rather than to entertain. Scientific or technical writing is different from literary writing in a number of ways. News & opportunities Expand menu for News & opportunities.Campus Life Expand menu for Campus Life.Wellbeing & health Expand menu for Wellbeing & health.Support for Expand menu for Support for.Professional development & UNSW Advantage.IT & eLearning Expand menu for IT & eLearning.Academic skills Expand menu for Academic skills.Support & Development Expand menu for Support & Development.Forms & documents Expand menu for Forms & documents.Managing Your Program Expand menu for Managing Your Program.Getting Started Expand menu for Getting Started.We can help you get rid of all of your unwanted passive voice, too. And if you want more grammar tips, make sure to check out the Grammar Guide for Busy People.Īnother tip is to check out how Acrolinx can help! We love language, and our AI content impact software is helping people create content that is more findable, readable, and enjoyable. We hope these tips help your writing stay as active as possible. Great writing should flow seamlessly, be clear and concise, and free from unnecessary words and confusingly long sentences. The pool in question was actually fouled by a cheeseburger. And, if you’ve been following along, you know that it’s also inaccurate. For example, “The pool water was fouled (by zombies!)” is a passive sentence. If it makes sense, your sentence is probably passive. If you’re not sure if a sentence is in active or passive voice, try adding “by zombies” to the end of it. At the polishing stage, remember SAT - subject, action, target - and edit accordingly where possible. Good writers take a couple of stabs at a blog post or article before it’s complete. Use active voice where possible to tighten and tone your content. Remember, extra words make reading laborious (something you definitely want to avoid when creating content for your customers) and writing flabby. When it comes to choosing between active and passive voice, keep these three tips in mind: (As in, “A wave of pool-related incidents was reported at the local country club.”) Meanwhile, it’s also common in journalism. In fiction, it’s used as a way to build tension or downplay actions. Passive voice is also regularly used in scientific writing to take the researcher(s) out of the equation. When you want to intentionally avoid identifying the performer of the action: “The fines for damaging the pool will be collected on Monday.”.The person performing the action is unknown or unimportant: “A cheeseburger was accidentally dropped into the pool.”.You legitimately want to bring attention to the receiver of the action, instead of the ones performing the action: “The waiter was pushed into the pool.”.In fact, there are times when it makes sense to opt for passive voice over active voice. You probably learned in school that you’re supposed to avoid passive voice at all costs. The Grammar Guide for Busy People Wordy Stuff That You Forgot Since School Download now ![]() While the second sentence tells the same story, it’s wordy, weak, and, frankly, a little flabby. While it’s not technically incorrect to use passive voice in your writing, we would probably all agree that the first sentence is more exciting, lively, and succinct. Instead, he’s passively sitting back, and receiving the action of being pushed into the pool. Here, while Mark is now the subject of the sentence, he’s not really doing anything (except having a bad day if he’s wearing a three-piece suit). In passive voice, the direct object gets promoted two pay-grades, and becomes the subject! In this example, Steve is the subject and Mark is the direct object (i.e., the target of the action). With active voice, the subject (a noun) performs the action expressed by the verb. If you’re wondering what the difference is between active and passive voice, your first clue lies in their names themselves. ![]() But what exactly is active voice? And why is it usually preferable to a more passive approach? Let’s take a look. One common error that people make when writing is using passive instead of active voice. Add writing to the mix, and… well, let’s just say, we’ve all read a poorly written blog post or press release in our day. With linguistic quirks and ambiguities galore, the English language can trip up even the most knowledgeable native speakers.
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