Turn a passive sentence about a broken window into an active, direct line.

Active voice isn’t just a grammar rule to memorize; it’s a secret spark that makes writing feel direct, vivid, and easy to follow. Think of it as giving your sentences a clear push from the doer of the action. When the person or thing performing the action comes first, your reader doesn’t have to do a mental mortgage on who did what. They get it right away.

The moment we look at a sentence through that lens, a lot of writing becomes more energetic with less effort. So let’s anchor this with a simple, clean example that often shows up in PACT-style tasks: turning a passive sentence into an active one.

What this little quiz teaches us

Here’s the scenario you’ll see in many grammar-focused prompts. You’re given a sentence that sounds a bit “stuffed” because the subject is receiving the action rather than doing it. Your job is to rewrite so the agent—who does the action—is the starter, not the receiver.

The question presents four choices:

• A. By the speeding baseball, the window was broken and crashed into.

• B. No change needed.

• C. The speeding baseball broke the window by crashing into it.

• D. Crashing into it, the window was broken by the speeding baseball.

Which one nails the active voice? The correct choice is C: The speeding baseball broke the window by crashing into it.

Let me explain why that one works while the others stumble.

Why active voice loves this sentence

• It names the doer up front. The speeding baseball is the subject, the agent performing the action. That makes the action immediate and easy to picture.

• It keeps the action tight. No awkward prepositional start (“By the speeding baseball”). Your reader doesn’t have to rearrange the sentence in their head to figure out who did what.

• It preserves the cause-and-effect clarity. You can literally see the baseball crashing into the window and breaking it, which makes the sequence crystal clear.

Why the others misfire

• A feels off because the preposition-led opener—“By the speeding baseball”—pushes the agent to the back, which makes the sentence sound clumsy and a little detached. It reads like the focus is somehow on the baseball’s introduction rather than the act of breaking.

• B attempts to keep the status quo. But in many real-world contexts, passive voice blunts action and dulls impact. It’s a win for flow to flip to active.

• D uses a dangling-feeling structure: it starts with a participial phrase (“Crashing into it”) that ends up awkwardly peeling away from the agent. The result sounds forced, not fluid.

• Passive voice hides the agent, and in this scenario you want the “who did it” to be obvious. The long road from “the window” to “the speeding baseball” makes the reader pause.

The bigger picture: why this matters in PACT-style writing

In many PACT tasks, you’re assessed on clarity, conciseness, and how well you guide the reader toward the intended meaning. Active voice is a reliable workhorse for that. It’s especially handy when you’re describing actions, events, or cause-and-effect relationships—things where readers want a straightforward line from subject to verb to object.

A quick guide to spotting and fixing passive voice

• Look for helping verbs that hide the actor: forms of be + past participle (is broken, was written, were shown). If you can switch the agent to the front, you’re probably in passive territory.

• Check who is performing the action. If the doer isn’t in the lead position, try rearranging so the actor leads the sentence.

• Watch for "by" phrases that introduce the agent. They’re often a red flag that you’re dealing with passive voice.

A simple four-step rewrite habit

1. Find the action and the doer. Who or what is performing the action?

2. Put the doer at the start. Let the subject bear the action.

3. Keep the core verb strong and direct. If you can swap a be-verb + participle for a stronger action verb, do it.

4. Preserve essential details about how the action happened. Don’t sacrifice meaning for brevity.

A tiny workout you can do anywhere

• Passive: The letter was sent by the assistant after the meeting.

• Active: The assistant sent the letter after the meeting.

• Passive: The new policy was explained by the manager to the team.

• Active: The manager explained the new policy to the team.

• Passive: A decision was reached by the committee following the report.

• Active: The committee reached a decision after the report.

These short rewrites aren’t about chasing perfect grammar labels; they’re about keeping readers aligned with who’s doing what and why it matters.

Bringing this into your everyday writing toolkit

Let’s connect this idea to real-world writing tasks you might encounter in PACT responsibilities, whether you’re drafting explanations, descriptions, or short arguments. The trick is to keep the subject-laden structure front-and-center, especially when you’re narrating events.

• Descriptions: If you’re painting a scene, active voice helps you convey motion and causality with fewer words. Instead of “The sculpture was admired by visitors,” you could write “Visitors admired the sculpture.” The second version feels warmer and more immediate.

• Explanations: When you’re clarifying how something works, active voice makes the mechanism clear. “The sensor detects temperature changes and triggers the alarm” is sharper than a passive alternative.

• Arguments: In persuasive writing, the agent doing the action often matters. “Researchers found a link” lands far more decisively than “A link was found by researchers” could.

A playful aside that still serves the point

You know those moments when you realize you’ve been reading something in your head with a yawn? Active voice is like waking up the sentence with a brisk walk outside. It doesn’t just tell people what happened; it invites them to participate in the happening. That shared sense of immediacy makes your writing feel honest and confident.

Getting stuck? Use a tiny diagnostic trick

If you’re unsure whether a sentence is passive, try this quick test: Move the agent (the doer) to the front. If the sentence still makes sense and reads smoothly, you probably have an active construction. If the sentence becomes awkward or you’re left with a weird dangling phrase, you’re likely dealing with passive structure that needs rethinking.

A few more examples to anchor the idea

• Passive: The solution was found by the team after several attempts.

Active: The team found the solution after several attempts.

• Passive: The concert was enjoyed by many fans.

Active: Many fans enjoyed the concert.

• Passive: The mystery was solved by the detective in the last chapter.

Active: The detective solved the mystery in the last chapter.

The bottom line

The correct active-voice revision—The speeding baseball broke the window by crashing into it—delivers a clear, direct, and vivid image. It teaches a bigger lesson that translates across many writing tasks: start with the actor, keep the action crisp, and preserve essential details that make the event come alive.

If you’re aiming for writing that feels effortless yet precise, make active voice your default whenever you can. You’ll find yourself saying more with fewer words, and your readers will thank you for the clarity.

One last thought before you go

Every sentence is a tiny story with a starting point, an action, and a consequence. When you position the agent at the head of the sentence, you give that story a natural momentum. The sentence stops being a mere string of words and becomes something that nudges the reader forward—like stepping onto a bridge and looking straight ahead.

If you want, I can toss you a few more passive-to-active mini-challenges—short, practical rewrites that you can try in a few minutes. They’re not about cramming for anything; they’re about shaping a more engaging, easier-to-follow voice for your readers. And yes, you’ll notice the difference in how your ideas land when the verbs push the action instead of sitting quietly in the wings.