Passive Sentences Detected
Paste text above to detect passive voice sentences.
Finds passive voice constructions and highlights them in context. Shows percentage of passive sentences and an overall rating.
Free · No SignupA passive voice checker is a writing tool that scans your text and identifies every sentence written in the passive voice — the grammatical construction where the subject receives the action rather than performs it. Instead of combing through your draft sentence by sentence, a passive voice detector highlights the problem sentences instantly so you can decide whether to rewrite them in the active voice.
Our free passive voice checker uses pattern matching to detect passive constructions like "was written," "is being reviewed," "had been completed," and hundreds of similar combinations. Each detected sentence is shown in full with the passive phrase highlighted, along with a passive percentage score and an overall rating so you can track your progress as you edit.
The difference between active and passive voice comes down to who does what in a sentence.
In the active version, the actor (Google) comes first. In the passive version, the thing acted upon (the algorithm) comes first, and the actor is pushed to the end — or omitted entirely: "The algorithm was updated." This omission is why passive voice is the preferred construction in contexts where you want to obscure responsibility. "Mistakes were made" is the classic example.
In everyday writing, passive constructions appear naturally and aren't always wrong. But they tend to make sentences longer, more formal, and harder to follow. Active sentences are shorter, more direct, and more engaging — qualities that matter for both readability and SEO.
Passive constructions almost always add words. "The post was written by Sarah" is six words. "Sarah wrote the post" is four. Multiply this across a 2,000-word article and you can add hundreds of unnecessary words that inflate your word count while diluting your content's density.
Online readers want immediacy. Active voice puts the reader in the middle of the action. Passive voice creates distance, making content feel like a report rather than a conversation. Blog content, product copy, and social posts almost always perform better in active voice.
When the agent is omitted from a passive sentence — "The article was deleted" — readers are left wondering who did it. In instructional content, this creates confusion. "Click the save button" is clearer than "The save button should be clicked."
Passive sentences are typically longer than their active equivalents, which raises your average sentence length and lowers your Flesch Reading Ease score. The connection between passive voice usage and readability scores is direct and measurable.
Passive voice is not always wrong. There are legitimate reasons to use it:
The goal is not to eliminate passive voice entirely — it's to use it intentionally. Our target threshold is under 10% passive sentences for most blog and web content.
The mechanical process for converting passive to active is straightforward:
| Passive (Before) | Active (After) |
|---|---|
| The report was written by the team. | The team wrote the report. |
| Mistakes were made during the launch. | The team made mistakes during the launch. |
| The page should be updated regularly. | Update the page regularly. |
| Results were achieved through collaboration. | The team achieved results through collaboration. |
| The new feature has been added by developers. | Developers added the new feature. |
Google does not directly penalize passive voice. Their ranking systems don't parse grammar at that level. However, passive voice has an indirect negative effect on SEO through three mechanisms:
The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress even includes a passive voice checker and warns users when their content exceeds 10% passive sentences, which has popularized the 10% threshold across the SEO community.
Quick win: The single highest-value edit most writers can make is converting passive voice in their title and first paragraph. These are the sentences readers use to decide whether to keep reading. Active, direct language in these positions significantly improves engagement.
For blog content and web copy, aim for under 10% passive sentences. Under 5% is excellent. Academic and scientific writing typically runs 20–40% passive by convention. The right threshold depends on your content type and audience.
It catches the most common patterns: "to be" + past participle (was written, is updated, were reviewed, been completed). Some edge cases — complex nested clauses, unusual verb forms — may occasionally be missed. For a human-level review of difficult cases, read the flagged sentences in context.
No. Some passive constructions are more natural and appropriate than their active rewrites. The tool flags sentences for your review — it doesn't tell you which ones to change. Use your editorial judgment for each flagged sentence.
Not directly. Google doesn't score grammar. But passive voice indirectly affects SEO through readability, dwell time, and engagement signals — all of which Google does measure. Reducing passive voice is one of the most efficient readability improvements you can make.
Passive voice is a specific grammatical structure (to be + past participle). Weak verbs are a broader category of vague or low-impact verbs (get, have, do, make, put) that appear in active sentences but lack specificity. Both weaken writing, but differently. Use the Passive Voice Checker for passive constructions and the Weak Word Highlighter for vague language.