Active vs. Passive Voice

Why this matters

Passive voice hides the actor and softens the action — both of which kill persuasion. Readers process active sentences faster and trust them more, which is why every direct-response copywriter defaults to active constructions from the first draft.

Try it yourself

1. Take the last email or landing page you wrote and highlight every sentence where the subject is not doing the verb — count passive instances before editing any.
2. Rewrite the three most passive sentences by naming the actor first and making the verb land on the object directly.
3. Read both versions aloud and record which feels more urgent — the original or the rewrite.

Prompt your AI

Use these three in order. Each builds on the one before.

1. Basics & terminology

In one paragraph, explain active versus passive voice like I have never heard the terms before, using a marketing example.

2. Why it works (the mechanism)

Walk me through exactly how passive voice slows reader processing and why that matters in a 5-second scroll context.

3. Advanced — application & what's next

Given a SaaS onboarding email written mostly in passive voice, rewrite it in active voice and explain every structural change you made.

References

• Purdue OWL — Active and Passive Voice