Voice
Core concepts
Voice works at two levels. Grammatically, active voice puts the doer first ("The team tested the sample"); passive voice puts the receiver first and uses be + past participle ("The sample was tested by the team"). Passive is right when the doer is unknown, unimportant or deliberately hidden, or when the receiver is the topic of the sentence. Stylistically, voice means the writer's personality and tone - formal or informal, warm or detached, assured or hedging - together with the point of view (first, second or third person). Persuasive writing uses voice deliberately: rhetorical questions, direct address, strong verbs, controlled repetition.
Traps
- Overusing the passive until the agent vanishes and nobody is accountable: "Mistakes were made."
- Shifting point of view mid-paragraph ("Students should revise; you should not cram").
- Tone mismatch: slang in a formal report, or stiff jargon in a friendly column.
- Confusing the narrator's voice with the quoted speech of a character.
Worked example
"The results were analysed and it was concluded that the drug was effective." Two passive verbs hide who did the work and make the claim sound stronger than the evidence. Active version: "Our team analysed the results and concluded that the drug was effective" - clear agent, honest attribution.
Rule of thumb
Ask "who does what?" and put that agent in the subject position unless there is a reason to generalise or hide it; then check that tone and point of view stay consistent across the passage.