active voice

The verb form in which the subject of the sentence performs or causes the action expressed by the verb. Contrast with passive voice.

Examples and Observations:

• "Here, then, are your tools of thumb:
  • Active verbs move the action and reveal the actors.
  • Passive verbs emphasize the receiver, the victim.
  • The verb to be links words and ideas.
  These choices are not merely aesthetic. They can also be moral and political. In his essay 'Politics and the English Language,' George Orwell describes the relationship between language abuse and political abuse, how corrupt leaders use the passive voice to obscure the unspeakable truths and shroud responsibility for their actions They say, 'It must be admitted, now that the report has been reviewed, that mistakes were made,' rather than, 'I read the report, and I admit I made a mistake.' Here's a life tool: always apologize in the active voice."
  (Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools, Little, Brown, 2006)



• "Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face."
  (Dave Barry)



• "Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."
  (Laurence J. Peter)



• "You know, at one time, I used to break into pet shops to liberate the canaries. But I decided that was an idea way before its time. Zoos are full, prisons are overflowing. Oh my, how the world still dearly loves a cage."
  (Ruth Gordon as Maude in Harold and Maude, 1971)



• "Finally, Hillary swept in and moved down a line of huggers toward a raised platform centered in the room.
  
  "Her positioning meant that she had to keep turning in order to hug back. Around and around and around she turned, 360 degrees, over and over, her arms outstretched in perpetual greeting, like a jewel-box ballerina whose battery has run low."
  (Kathleen Parker, "Hillary's Once in a Lifetime," Oakland Tribune, February 21, 2007)