In English, there are two voices--active and passive. If the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is said to be in the "active voice"; for example: I stopped. I bathed. The ...

One way to avoid using the passive voice is to look for a ‘by’ phrase. Rewrite the sentence so that the subject in the 'by' phrase is closer to the beginning of the sentence. For example ...

To choose between active and passive voice, consider above all what you are discussing (your topic) and place it in the subject position. For example, should you write "The preprocessor sorts the ...

Passive voice also allows one to help move words to emphasize them. Passive voice can also be useful when emphasizing the action but not the one doing the action. Example: “In the geographic areas ...

As I said above, it is appropriate to use the passive voice when it clarifies your meaning. Here is an appropriate example: "In the past three decades, interest in the discipline of communication has ...