Too Much Passive Voice: Fixing It Sentence by Sentence
A passive sentence puts the thing acted on first and the actor last, or leaves the actor out: "your order will be dispatched" instead of "we will dispatch your order". Used now and then it is fine. Used by habit it makes pages vague about who does what, which matters most in instructions, policies and anything involving money.
The Readability Checker reports the share of passive sentences on a page. This guide shows how to confirm which flagged sentences are truly passive, rewrite them, and decide which ones to keep.
What counts as passive, and what does not
A passive sentence has two parts: a form of the verb to be (is, are, was, were, be, been, being, will be) followed by a past participle (sent, made, taken, reviewed). The thing receiving the action becomes the subject, and the actor either follows "by" or disappears.
| Active | Passive | Passive, actor removed |
|---|---|---|
| We review every application within five days. | Every application is reviewed by us within five days. | Every application is reviewed within five days. |
| The courier will collect the parcel. | The parcel will be collected by the courier. | The parcel will be collected. |
| You must return the form by Friday. | The form must be returned by you by Friday. | The form must be returned by Friday. |
The third column is where problems start. "The form must be returned by Friday" does not say who returns it, which is fine if it is obvious and harmful if it is not.
The "by zombies" test
A popular memory aid, widely shared by writing teachers: if you can add "by zombies" after the verb and the sentence still makes grammatical sense, it is passive. "The parcel will be collected by zombies" works, so it is passive. "The shop closes by zombies" does not, so "the shop closes" is active.
Things that look passive but are not
- Past tense. "We sent your order" is active past tense. Passive is not the same as past.
- Adjectives after "to be". "The shop is closed on Sundays" and "I am interested" describe a state. Most readers and many style guides treat these as fine, and some checkers flag them anyway.
- Weak verbs. "There is a charge for delivery" is not passive, even though it is indirect. It may still be worth rewriting as "Delivery costs £4".
- "Get" passives. "Your account got suspended" is a passive built with get. Many tools miss these, but they hide the actor in the same way.
Why too much passive voice hurts a page
Passive sentences are not wrong, but in quantity they cause three specific problems.
- Responsibility disappears. "Refunds will be processed within 14 days" does not say whether the shop, the bank or the payment provider is responsible, or what happens if nobody does it. Readers of a policy want to know who owes them what.
- Sentences get longer and heavier. A passive sentence with the actor kept in ("by our team") is always longer than the active version, and it usually adds syllables too.
- Instructions get vague. "The filter should be cleaned monthly" leaves the reader wondering whether they or an engineer should do it. "Clean the filter once a month" leaves no doubt.
Corporate and public-sector writing drifts towards the passive because it sounds formal and avoids naming anyone. That is exactly why readers find it evasive, especially in apologies: "mistakes were made" names nobody.
Checking the passive share
Run the page through the Readability Checker. It reports the share of passive sentences and flags sentences that need attention. There is no universal correct share; the number is a way to see whether the passive is a choice or a habit on this page.
Where to look first
- Instructions and how-to text. Every passive here should become an instruction to the reader.
- Delivery, returns, refunds and cancellation policies. These tell readers what they are owed. Name who does each thing.
- Error messages and account notices. "Your payment could not be processed" is common and unhelpful. Say what happened and what to do next.
- About and service pages. "Solutions are delivered to clients" says nothing. "We fit and service boilers" says what you do.
Finding passives the checker misses
If your checker does not catch get passives or you are editing in a word processor, search
the text for was , were , been , being , will be
and is being , and for words ending in -ed directly after them. It is slow
on a long page but thorough on short, important ones such as a refund policy.
The fix, step by step
Step 1
Confirm each flagged sentence is passive
Go through the sentences the Readability Checker flags and apply the "by zombies" test
to each. Take off your list any that are really adjectives after a form of to be, such as
is closed or is located, and any active past-tense sentences a rough tool misread.
Add any get passives you spot, such as got cancelled, because many tools miss
them even though they hide the actor in exactly the same way.
Step 2
Find the missing actor
For
each confirmed passive, write down who or what performs the action. Sometimes the actor sits later in
the sentence after by. Often it has vanished, and you will need to ask a colleague whether
the warehouse, the payment provider or the customer is responsible. This step matters more than the rewrite
itself, because a missing actor is often a sign that the process is unclear inside the business too,
not only on the page.
Step 3
Rewrite with the actor as the subject
Move
the actor to the front of the sentence and follow it straight away with an active verb, so the form will be reviewed by our team
becomes our team will review the form. Remove the leftover by phrase and any
form of to be. Check that the tense and meaning have not changed, especially where the original
contained must, should or may, since these words carry obligation
and permission.
Step 4
Use you and we on customer-facing pages
On pages written for customers, name the business as we and the reader as you.
Instructions work best as direct commands with the actor implied, such as Clean the filter once a month,
which is active even though no subject appears. This style is shorter, friendlier and harder to misread.
It also makes obligations obvious, because each sentence now says plainly which party does what and when.
Step 5
Keep the passives that earn their place
Leave a sentence passive when the actor is unknown, unimportant or obvious, as in the house was built in 1904.
Keep it when you want the reader's attention on the thing acted on, such as your data is encrypted in transit,
or when naming the actor would be awkward or unfair. Keep approved regulated wording as it is. Deliberate
passives are fine; the goal is to remove the habitual ones.
Step 6
Re-check the share and the meaning
Run the rewritten page through the Readability Checker again and note the new passive share beside the old one. Then ask someone who knows the process to read the rewritten policy or instruction sentences and confirm each one names the right party. A sentence that is now active but names the wrong actor is worse than the original, so accuracy comes before the number going down in the report.
Rewrites by page type
Delivery policy
Before: "Orders are dispatched within two working days. Tracking details will be sent once the parcel has been collected. Signatures may be required for high-value items."
After: "We dispatch orders within two working days. We email you tracking details when the courier collects your parcel. For high-value items the courier may ask for a signature."
Instructions
Before: "The appliance should be unplugged before cleaning. The filter is removed by twisting it anticlockwise, and it should be rinsed under cold water."
After: "Unplug the appliance before cleaning. Twist the filter anticlockwise to remove it, then rinse it under cold water."
Error messages
Before: "Your payment could not be processed."
After: "Your bank declined the payment. Check your card details or try another card."
The "after" version needs the system to know why the payment failed. Where it does not, "We could not take your payment" is still clearer about whose system is involved.
Apologies
Before: "We are sorry that incorrect information was given to you."
After: "We are sorry that we gave you the wrong information."
The active version takes responsibility. Readers notice the difference.
When the passive is the better choice
Some style guides treat the passive as an error. It is not, and removing every passive makes writing awkward. Keep it in these cases.
| Situation | Example | Why passive works |
|---|---|---|
| Actor unknown | The painting was stolen in 1994. | Nobody knows who stole it. |
| Actor obvious or irrelevant | The road was resurfaced last year. | Readers do not need the contractor's name. |
| Focus on the thing acted on | All payments are encrypted. | The reader cares about the payment, not the software. |
| Keeping the topic in subject position | The Tuesday market is run by volunteers. | The paragraph is about the market; the next sentence can continue with it. |
| Scientific or technical method | Samples were heated to 80 °C. | A common convention in method sections, where the procedure matters more than the person. |
There is also a legitimate use for tact. "The invoice was sent to the wrong address" can be kinder in a customer email than "you gave us the wrong address", when the point is to fix the problem rather than assign blame.
Keeping the passive under control
- Adopt "we" and "you" in your style guide. Once writers are allowed to name the business and the reader, most habitual passives disappear on their own.
- Write instructions as commands. Start each step with a verb: "Open", "Click", "Return", "Remove".
- Review templates and system messages. Order confirmations, error messages and automated emails are often written once, in the passive, and then sent thousands of times. Fixing them has an outsized effect.
- Watch edited legal text. Keep a note of which policy wording is approved and cannot change, so writers know where not to rewrite.
- Check drafts before publishing. A quick run through the checker shows whether the passive share has crept up.
Passive sentences often go with long, noun-heavy phrasing; fixing jargon and corporate-speak covers the vocabulary side of the same habit, and fixing sentences over 20 words covers length.
1. How do I know if a sentence is passive?
Look for a form of the verb to be, such as is, was, were, has been or will be, followed by a past participle such as sent, made or reviewed. The thing receiving the action comes first, and the actor either follows the word by or is missing. A quick check is the by zombies test: if you can add by zombies after the verb and the sentence still makes grammatical sense, it is passive. If it makes no sense, it is active.
2. Is passive voice grammatically wrong?
No. The passive is a normal, correct part of English grammar. It is the right choice when the actor is unknown, unimportant or obvious, when you want attention on the thing acted on, or in scientific method sections where the procedure matters more than the person. The problem the Readability Checker points to is habitual use, where passives pile up and readers can no longer tell who does what. Rewrite those, and keep the passives you chose deliberately.
3. What percentage of passive voice is acceptable?
There is no universal correct figure, and different tools count passives slightly differently. Some plugins use their own thresholds as a warning point, but those are rules of thumb rather than a standard. The useful question is whether each passive on the page is a choice. A page of instructions or a refund policy should have very few, because readers need to know who acts. A history page or a technical method section can reasonably have more.
4. Why does my checker flag sentences that are not passive?
Automated checkers look for patterns rather than understanding meaning, so they make mistakes. A common false alarm is an adjective after a form of to be, such as the shop is closed or I am interested, which looks like a passive but describes a state. Some tools also confuse past tense with passive voice. Check each flagged sentence yourself with the by zombies test, and ignore flags on sentences that are not truly passive.
5. Does passive voice affect SEO?
Google has not said it measures passive voice, and there is no public evidence that it is a ranking factor. Passive voice matters for readers. Pages that say clearly who does what are easier to understand and act on, which helps them do their job. Clear, direct sentences that state one fact each are also easier for search features and AI assistants to quote accurately. Fix passive voice for your readers, not for an algorithm.
6. How do I rewrite a passive sentence when I do not know who the actor is?
First try to find out, because a missing actor on a policy or instruction page often means nobody is sure who is responsible. Ask the colleague who runs that process. If the actor genuinely is unknown or does not matter, the passive is probably the right choice and you can leave it. For instructions, you can often sidestep the question by writing a direct command such as unplug the appliance, which is active and makes the reader the actor.
7. Should terms and conditions be written in the active voice?
Active voice usually makes terms clearer, because each sentence names the party with the obligation, such as we will refund you within 14 days or you must tell us within 30 days. Many plain-language contract guides recommend it for that reason. However, changing legal wording can change its meaning, so any rewrite should be checked by whoever approves your terms. This is not legal advice. Where wording must stay as it is, add a plain summary above it.
The Readability Checker reports the share of passive sentences and flags the sentences that need attention, alongside Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog, sentence and paragraph length and jargon density.
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