active: McBride sent the angry letter.
passive: The angry letter was sent by McBride.

• Are shorter. Sentence by sentence, deleting those extra words adds up to extra space for advertisements and other stories.
  
  
• Are easier to understand. Writing in standard subject-verb-object order increases readers' comprehension.
  
  
• Leave less wiggle room. Consider how easy it would be to drop the person responsible in the passive sentence above to "The letter was sent." Journalists tend to hold people responsible for their actions.

Passive voice occasionally is preferable when the object is more important than the subject, as in "The president was struck in the face by a baseball."

In the sentences that follow, mark each sentence as either active or passive. If the sentence is passive, consider how you would rewrite it in order to make it active.

1		He was arrested while climbing into the mansion's window.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
2		Retiring treasurer Bill Habib will be replaced by understudy Jenny Baker.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
3		The reporter knew she had to complete her story by the 5 p.m. deadline.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
4		The manager, as seen by the employees, is benevolent but demanding.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
5		I was more angered by how she said it than what she said.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
6		Casting calls were made on the third Friday of the month.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
7		The blast destroyed the row of lockers on the east side of the building.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
8		The overall flavor and texture of the blend was ranked on a scale from 1 to 5.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
9		Catcher Bill Turlock won the game in the 9th inning with a home run.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
10		The letter from the trustee did not include any errors.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive
11		After a lively discussion and not a little bickering, Scott was dubbed "Captain Scott," a title that left him feeling slightly uncomfortable but appreciated.
			A)	Active
			B)	Passive