Active Writing Vs. Passive Writing

In order to write better, you need to have a strong grasp on the grammatical aspects of the English language. Grammar is a measure of quality, and using proper grammar can drastically increase the quality of a piece of writing. By editing a piece of writings grammatical structure most readers won't be able to tell the difference between the two pieces, but almost everyone will agree that the one with better grammar "sounds" better.

There are at least two grammatically correct ways to right almost any English sentence. One of these ways is generally considered to be a bad, negative way of writing, whereas the other way is considered to be a more refined, acute form of writing. Some go as far as saying that the first way of writing is sloppy, and generally only practiced by lazy writers. Despite this small controversy, most writers agree that one of these two writing format's is vastly superior to the other.

The first of these ways is called passive. Passive writing is generally frowned upon by professional writers because it lacks "umph" and often doesn't get the point across to the reader. Passive writing is when the predicate "gets done" by the subject. An example of passive writing is this sentence. The word "example" is sitting lazily around the start of the sentence; many readers will drive right through this sentence without noticing what the sentence says. Passive writing is generally considered inferior to its powerful brother, active writing.

Active writing generally packs a sentence with a lot more power. This power allows the reader of the sentence to fully comprehend the sentence better, and makes it far easier for the reader to transfer the information into their long term memory. Active writing is when the predicate is "doing" the subject. This sentence is an example of active writing. As a rule of thumb, good writers generally choose to incorporate a far greater amount of active writing in their text than they do passive writing.

Active writing is far superior to passive writing, and all writers should attempt to write in active format when possible. In other language, such as German, there is no real way to write in "active" or "passive" formats. Writer's that utilize the English language are in fact, quite lucky because the English language provides the writer with a great number of tools to communicate information more actively and decisively.