in Digital, Online Tools, Writing | Blog Posts

Introduction

Consider these two sentences:

(a) If time can be spent really rearranging your sentence structure the tone is switched from the passive voice to the active voice.

vs

(b) Rearrange your sentence structure to switch from the passive to the active voice.

Not only is (a) a long, run-on sentence but it’s also written in the passive voice. It’s simple to re-write the sentence to improve readability.

The app highlights sentence (a) used in the introduction like so:

If time can be spent really rearranging your sentence structure the tone is switched from the passive voice to the active voice.

The key provided by the site explains the problems as follows:

  1. Orange means a long, run-on sentence
  2. Green means passive verbs instead of active verbs
  3. Blue means unnecessary adverbs that may not contribute to the meaning of the sentence

I’ve started running all my writing through the app and it’s been incredibly helpful. I have to think about whether that sentence needs to be long or if several short sentences would serve the same purpose. Plus I tend to fill my writing with passive verbs and needless adverbs.

So far I’ve only tried the free web version but there’s also a paid desktop app for both Mac and PC.

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