Active and Passive Voice in OET Writing: Keep Responsibility Clear

A passive sentence can sound formal, but formality alone does not make a summary accurate. If you remove the person responsible for an action, or change an ongoing task into a completed one, the reader receives a different message.

The Jobins Training Grammar coursebook teaches active and passive voice within a broader meaning-first approach. Lessons G10 and G11 connect sentence structure with responsibility and status. Here is a practical way to use those ideas when turning notes into clear writing.

Identify the action and the person who performed it

Start by asking three questions: who acted, what did they do and what received the action? In “The coordinator checked the booking form”, the coordinator performed the checking and the form received that action. You can change the focus without changing either fact.

The active version puts the coordinator first. The passive version puts the form first. Choose the focus that helps the reader follow the information. Neither construction is automatically more professional; a clear active sentence often does the job well.

Do not lose an important distinction between people

Now add a second fact: the assistant sent the form after the coordinator checked it. A summary such as “The form was checked and sent” leaves the actors unstated. That may be grammatically acceptable, but it loses a distinction the reader might need.

“The coordinator checked the form, and the assistant then sent it” preserves both responsibilities. You could also write, “After the coordinator checked the form, it was sent by the assistant.” The point is to retain necessary information, rather than make every clause passive.

Do not supply an actor merely because someone is usually responsible for that task. A plausible assumption is still an addition to the source. If the notes do not identify who acted, a passive construction can help you report what is known without guessing.

Check the whole verb phrase

Small auxiliary words carry important information. Compare these descriptions of a document:

• It is being checked: the checking is in progress.
• It has been checked: the checking is complete and relevant to the present discussion.
• It should be checked: checking is recommended; this does not establish that it has begun.

Before polishing the sentence, identify which status the notes support. A deadline does not prove that somebody has started the work. A recommendation does not prove completion. Keep those differences visible even when you shorten a paragraph.

Recognise when a passive is unavailable

In its ordinary use, “arrive” does not take an object that can become a passive subject. Write “The patient arrived at noon”, not “The patient was arrived at noon”. The presence of a person receiving a service does not make every verb in the account passive.

By contrast, “The receptionist received the form” has an object, “the form”. It can become “The form was received by the receptionist”. Check the verb’s actual construction before adding “was” and assuming you have made a suitable passive.

Use a two-pass edit

1. Meaning: compare each actor, action, time and status with the notes. Remove invented facts.
2. Form: check agreement, the appropriate form of “be” and the past participle. Read the complete sentence again.

Finish with a fresh example that uses different facts. Explain why you chose active or passive voice and which information must remain explicit. This makes the exercise a decision you can repeat in your own writing.

Continue with OET Grammar — Course 2 to explore the wider course outline. If you prefer personal feedback, choose your preferred dates and times for one-to-one OET tuition around your shifts, with sessions arranged subject to tutor availability.

Source: OET Grammar Coursebook.pdf, Jobins Training. Examples labelled original or illustrative were written for this article. Independent exam preparation; no affiliation with or endorsement by the examining body. Practice does not predict an official score.