Active voice

Use the active voice (e.g., "rotate switch 12A" rather than "switch 12A should be rotated"). 

With the aid of William Strunk and E.B. White in The Elements of Style and that of William Zinsser in On Writing Well, Rudolph Flesch in The ABC of Style, and D.L. Carson, whose comments appear in this book, I have tried to follow some principles of technical communication lately ignored in scientific texts use the first person, put yourself in the reader s place, and, the best for last, use the active voice and a personal subject. 

Not only is it clearer and mare direct, but the active voice conveys your meaning more easily. 

You will hear this unanimous piece of advice often The active voice is much more effective in conveying your personality through your essay. You literally become the source of, or cause, the action. 

Strive to write in the active, rather than passive, voice. Not only is it more clear and direct, but the active voice conveys your meaning more easily. If you use the passive voice, your sentences may become too wordy, and lack focus. The last thing you want is long sentences that are confusing to the reader. 

Verbs have two voices. In the active voice, the subject is the source of, or cause of, the action. In the passive voice, the subject is acted upon. In a personal essay, you are usually the subject. That means the active voice is much more effective in conveying your personality through your essay— you re the actor, not the acted upon. The active voice is also clearer and more direct. In the following examples, note the simplicity and directness of the first sentence in each pair. The second sentences, written in the passive voice, are clunky and noticeably longer. 

Two writing conventions apply to the Methods section as a whole the use of tense (past or present) and voice (passive or active). Past tense and passive voice predominate in the Methods section however, in some cases, present tense and/ or active voice are also used. Like other writing conventions, the proper use of tense and voice reveals authors familiarity with the expectations of the held, their objectivity, and more expert-like writing abilities. 

Inappropriate We heat the mixture to 80 °C. [present tense, active voice] We heated the mixture to 80 °C. [past tense, active voice]... 

What rules have you created for yourself to remember when to use active voice and when to use passive voice in a Methods section ... 

In hgure 3.3 (chapter 3), we reported the frequencies of passive voice in each section of a journal article. If you look back at figure 3.3, you will see that passive voice is used more frequently in Methods sections than in Results (or Discussion) sections. This distribution suggests that both active voice and passive voice are used in Results sections. Past and present tense, when combined with active and passive voice, form four different tense-voice combinations. Each combination has its own function, several of which are illustrated in table 4.1. 

For example, Plaper et al. (2002) state that three Cr + compounds were examined (work done In the past) but that the hydroxyl radical is a known mediator of DNA damage (knowledge that exists in the present). Similarly, the present-tense, active-voice combination Is used in the Discussion section to state scientific truths (knowledge expected to be true over time), just as it was in the Results section. Note that Interpretations and/or mechanisms put forth in a Discussion section are often considered to be truths and therefore are stated in present-tense active voice. Table 5.1 summarizes common verb tense—voice combinations and their functions, with example sentences. 

Use of present-tense active voice in a Discussion section... 

Active Voice has/have + past participle Passive Voice has/have + been + past participle ... 

Voice. Both passive and active voice are used in abstracts, although passive voice is more common ... 

Voice Both active and passive voice are used in conference abstracts. Active voice is especially common in move I (e.g., 2,2 -BipyrroIes are key synthetic precursors ) but is also used in the rest of the abstract. Passive voice is often used to refer to work done in the past (e.g., Molecular dynamics simulations... 

Voice and we Poster Methods sections are written largely in passive voice active voice is used less often. We is commonly avoided. 

Voice and we Poster Results sections use both passive and active voice, and the word we is typically avoided ... 

Active voice Calibration results were linear. 

Active voice Furfural increased more than 2-fold. 

Voice and we Both active and passive voice are used in the poster Introduction, although active voice is more common. The word we can be used to signal the current work, that is, the work that the authors will present in the poster. 

Active voice We present an asymmetric Strecker reaction where... 

Present tense and active voice are commonly used for statements of importance, knowledge, or fact. We is not used in move 2 because the proposed work is not mentioned. 

We close our discussion of move 3 by analyzing common verb tense and voice combinations used in this move (table 12.6). Gaps are often stated in present tense (in active and passive voice), sometimes in combination with a present perfect-passive statement fill-the-gap statements are usually in present or future tense and active voice. Personal pronouns (I or we) are common in fill-the-gap statements. 

We end this section by examining a few commonly used verb tense—voice combinations in move 1. As shown in table 13.3, prior accomplishments are typically written in active voice in either past tense or present perfect. Statements that establish expertise are typically written in present tense. 

We end this section by examining a few commonly used verb tense-voice combinations in move 2 (table 13.5). Present perfect is commonly used to describe preliminary work (done in the past) present tense is commonly used to share preliminary findings (believed to be true over time). Active voice is also common. Note that because authors want to call attention to their own promising results in this move, personal pronouns such as we or our are often used. 

Consider the following sentences used to describe preliminary results. Which are written in active voice Which are written in passive voice Convert the sentences that are written in passive voice to active voice to place greater emphasis on the scientist/researcher. 

Consider the following sentences, adapted from CAREER proposals. Rewrite each sentence in future tense and active voice. 

We conclude our discussion of move 3 by considering verb tense and voice combinations commonly used in this move (summarized in table 14.5). Present tense, present perfect, and future tense are used to reiterate goals. Future tense is used most often to state broader impacts. Active voice is common throughout the move, and personal pronouns (e.g., we and our) may be used at the authors discretion. 

When using active voice, check that you used personal pronouns (e.g., we) sparingly and in conventional ways (e.g., to signal a decision or the start of the fill-the-gap statement). 

Use active voice The doctor placed the paper on the wall. ... 

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