Passive Voice Checker
Detect passive voice sentences in your writing. This tool highlights passive constructions using regex patterns for "was/were/been/being + past participle" and shows the percentage of passive sentences. All processing happens in your browser — your text is never sent to any server.
How Passive Voice Is Detected
Passive voice occurs when the subject of a sentence receives the action rather than performing it. In English, passive constructions typically follow the pattern of a "to be" verb (is, am, are, was, were, been, being, be) followed by a past participle (a verb typically ending in -ed, -en, -t, -wn, or -ng). This tool scans each sentence for these patterns using regular expressions.
For example, "The report was written by the team" is passive, while "The team wrote the report" is active. The passive version uses "was written" — the auxiliary verb "was" followed by the past participle "written".
Detection Pattern
Passive = (is|am|are|was|were|been|being|be) + past participle (ed|en|wn|t ending)
The tool checks each sentence against patterns like:
- was/were + past participle: "was completed", "were found"
- been/being + past participle: "has been approved", "is being reviewed"
- is/are + past participle: "is known", "are expected"
Passive Voice % = (Passive Sentences / Total Sentences) × 100
Why Active Voice Is Preferred
Active voice makes writing clearer, more direct, and more engaging. Most style guides, including the AP Stylebook, Chicago Manual of Style, and Strunk and White's Elements of Style, recommend using active voice as the default. Active sentences are typically shorter, easier to understand, and more persuasive. However, passive voice is appropriate in some contexts, such as scientific writing, when the actor is unknown, or when the action is more important than the actor.
A good target is to keep passive voice below 10-15% of your sentences. This tool helps you identify passive constructions so you can decide which to rewrite and which to keep.
Examples
Passive vs Active
- Passive: "The cake was eaten by the children." → Active: "The children ate the cake."
- Passive: "Mistakes were made." → Active: "We made mistakes."
- Passive: "The bill was passed by Congress." → Active: "Congress passed the bill."
Privacy Note
All analysis runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never transmitted to any external server, making this tool safe for confidential documents and sensitive content.