'Active Voice' v/s 'Passive Voice'

You will have coaches/guide books telling you that the Passive voice is almost always incorect on the GMAT and that you should always go with the Active voice.

While this advice is absolutely spot on, do you actually know the difference between active and Passive voice?

The Active Voice

This the normal voice that we speak in most of the time. In this voice the object receives the action of the verb performed by the subject (Click here to know what are 'Subjects' and 'Objects'). Sounds complicated?

Look at this simple example:

Dogs eat bones.

Here the subject 'dogs' is performing an action 'eat' on the object 'bones'. Hence this sentence is in the Active voice.

The Passive Voice

The Passive voice is less usual. In this voice the subject receives the action of the verb being performed by the object.

Lets modify the earlier example a little:

Bones are eaten by dogs.

Here the subject 'bones' has an action 'eaten' being performed on it by the object 'dogs'. Hence this sentence is in the Passive voice.

Usually the Active voice has the construction 'Who does What' (I read a book), while the Passive voice has the construction 'What was done by Whom' (The book was read by me).

As you can see, sentences in the Passive voice tend to be longer and more awkward than sentences in the Active voice. Hence the active voice is preferred on the GMAT.

To Sum it Up:

1. Active Voice - Subject performs the action on the Object
   
   
2. Passive Voice - Object performs the action on the Subject
   
   
3. On the GMAT, always go with the Active Voice