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Home / Style Guide / Language and grammar / Voice

Voice Edit

Highlight: In general, use active voice rather than passive voice.

In general, use active voice rather than passive voice.

When the subject (person or thing) of a sentence is performing the action, the sentence uses active voice.
When the subject (person or thing) of a sentence is being acted upon, then the sentence uses passive voice. The subject is the receiver of the action.

Active voice is more effective than passive voice and reduces the word count of a sentence. In sentences using passive voice, it may be difficult inferring who or what the subject is.

Examples

Not recommended: A new post is created, and is shown on the blog page.

Recommended: Create a new post. You can see it on the blog page.

Not recommended: A paragraph blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. gets added to your page.

Recommended: Add a paragraph blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. to your page.

Sometimes passive voice may be more appropriate for a sentence. Be careful not change the meaning of a sentence while rewriting it from active voice to passive voice.

Passive voice can be used when:

The object/action receiver needs to be emphasized.
If the sentence does not need a subject, or if the subject is not the focus of the sentence.
The system performs an action.
Active voice creates a cumbersome sentence structure.
You want to avoid blaming the user in cases like error messages and warnings.
You want to emphasize objects/actions in a heading or title.

Examples

Not recommended: You have caused an error.

Recommended: An error has occurred.

Recommended: The file is saved.

Recommended: The backup was created.

Recommended: Error 404 – Site not found.

Last updated: April 5, 2021

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