Find likely passive constructions, separate named actors from agentless sentences, and leave good passive writing alone.
ENGLISH EXAMS & WRITING · LOCAL WORKBENCH · BROWSER WORKSPACE
See who did it. Review what the sentence leaves out.
Find likely passive constructions, separate named actors from agentless sentences, and leave good passive writing alone.
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01 · YOUR WRITING61 words · 7 sentences
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Passive voice is a choice, not an error.
Start with the sentences where the actor is missing. Passives that name who acted may be the clearest choice.
Heuristic, not a full grammar parser. It looks for be + a likely participle, while excluding common predicate adjectives.
02 · WHO DID IT?6 possible matches
SENTENCES7
PASSIVE PATTERNS6
NO EXPLICIT AGENT FOUND5
SHARE OF SENTENCES57%
5 possible passive patterns have no explicit agent phrase detected. Check whether the actor matters in context. 1 other match includes a nearby “by” phrase.
CONTEXT CHECK
No explicit agent phrase detected
5were madeReview context
Mistakes were made during the rollout.
were restoredReview context
The incident report was written by the operations team, and the affected accounts were restored within an hour.
was accessedReview context
It is important to note that customer data was not accessed.
been updatedReview context
The policy has been updated, and staff will be retrained next quarter.
be retrainedReview context
The policy has been updated, and staff will be retrained next quarter.
STYLE CHOICE
Passive, actor still named
1was writtenActor: by the operations team
The incident report was written by the operations team, and the affected accounts were restored within an hour.
Your text, marked by detected agent phrase
Amber: none found · green: “by” phrase found
Mistakes were made during the rollout. The incident report was written by the operations team, and the affected accounts were restored within an hour. It is important to note that customer data was not accessed. The policy has been updated, and staff will be retrained next quarter.
She was tired after the review. The door was open. The results are impressive.
Pattern-based review: the tool looks for be + likely participle and a nearby “by” phrase. No phrase found does not prove the actor is unknown; grammar and context decide whether passive voice fits. Purdue OWL: More about passive voice ↗
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Runs in this browser. Results are estimates or editing cues. Review the assumptions and source-specific limits before using them in a consequential decision.
Find likely passive constructions, separate named actors from agentless sentences, and leave good passive writing alone. Review assumptions, source notes, and any context-sensitive flags before relying on the result.
