Active voice refers to sentences where the actor, or subject, performs the action indicated by the verb. The verbs present in active voice are strong, clear verbs that are also specific and focused. This prevents sentences from becoming awkward and wordy because they get right to the point. Active voice is more forceful than passive voice.
Active voice is present in most types of personal writing. Since a reaction paper is a personal response, active voice is appropriate to present strong, defined and clear thoughts and feelings. A writer can get his point across more easily when he uses sentences where the actor is actually acting, and not receiving the action. Active voice presents the ideas in a more concise manner so that the reader does not have to work too hard to understand the writer's views.
There are a few ways to convert passive voice to active voice. Reading the sentence over to make sure that the actor is performing the action allows the writer to monitor himself and revise the sentence if necessary. Another way is looking for the actor in the phrase "by the..." in the sentence. This phrase is the one that shows what action the actor is performing. For example, a sentence can read, "The mail is delivered by the mailman." This is passive voice. The writer then makes the actor the subject of the sentence and changes the verb accordingly. The sentence becomes, "The mailman delivers the mail." Sometimes the actor is implied and the reader must infer the actor from the rest of the context.
Though active voice is usually the preferred choice in a reaction paper and in most nonscientific writing, there are some exceptions when a writer can choose to use passive voice instead. One exception is when the writer wants to emphasize the action and not the actor, or when the writer decides not to mention the actor at all. A writer can also choose the passive voice if he wants the reader to focus on something besides the actor throughout a passage. Passive voice is also used in situations when the actor is unknown or when the writer wishes to convey a sense of authority. This is most common in scientific writing, where writers aim for the appearance of objectivity when presenting their facts.