How to Check your Article for Passive Sentences in MS Word

Screenshot of MS Word's Readability Statistics

Passive sentences can be the death of any writer. Good writing depends on strong verbs and well-crafted sentences. However, there is an easy way to check your articles for passive sentences before you submit them to an editor! This is a "must-do" for any freelance writer or blogger who wants to publish her articles.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Word

Instructions

1. If you have an article or blog post that you'd like to check for passive sentences, open the article in Microsoft Word. You can choose to select the whole article, a paragraph, or a single sentence. Start by highlighting the text you want to check. Do this by dragging your cursor over the text.

2. Go to the "Tools" Menu, click "Options," and click the "Spelling & Grammar" tab.

3. Click the "Check grammar with spelling" and "Show readability statistics" check boxes. Click OK.

4. Now is the fun part! Go back to the document you have open with the highlighted text, and click the "Spelling and Grammar" button on the Standard toolbar.

5. A box will pop up with a list of readability statistics. This not only checks for passive sentences, but also gives you a list of Counts, Averages, and Readability Statistics.

   Here is a breakdown of the statistics:

   • Counts: The number of words, characters, paragraphs, and sentences in the document.

   • Averages: Average sentences per paragraph, words per sentence, and characters per word.

   • Readability statistics: Percentage of passive sentences in the document, Flesch Reading Ease score, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level.

6. This is what the statistics mean:

   Counts: Words come first: This is always helpful when submitting an article to a publication, contest, or even trying to figure out how many words are in your blog post. This tool also counts the number of characters (a handy tool for meta-tags and SEO), how many paragraphs you've written, and how many sentences.

   Averages: Sentences Per Paragraph: When writing for the web you want to make sure that each paragraph is tight, and contains the least amount of sentences to make it digestible for web-friendly reading. Think of it in small chunks with easy-to-pick-out information contained in each paragraph.

   Words Per Sentence: This section has a lot to deal with the readability level. For some reason, the shorter the sentences, the higher the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score. A general rule is that there should be no more than 15-20 words per sentence. Go figure.

   Readability Statistics:

   This area is all about your writing style and how it relates to your readers.

   Passive Sentences: The statistics state that if the percentage is higher than 15 percent, then you've written something pretty terrible and completely mushy in language. Strive for 0 percent.

   Flesch: If the Flesch Reading score is greater than 65 percent, or the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score is greater than 5-7 (for younger readers), 5-9 (general readers), or 7-12 (literary readers) then you need to reexamine your article and see if it's fit for the publication you're writing it for.

   The Flesch levels also count for reading speed. The simpler and shorter the sentences, the higher the score. This comes in handy when writing for younger readers, copywriting, or crafting a short blog post.

7. When you find a passive sentence in your article, try to pinpoint the trouble spot. Passive sentences shift the focus away from the subject that performs an action.

   Here's an example:

   Sally is buying an apple. (Active)

   The apple is bought by Sally. (Passive)

   That's a simple example, but when you have sentences that are complicated in structure, it's not always that easy to spot. Passive sentences are not grammatically incorrect, but too many can make a piece seem flaccid and mushy.

Tips & Warnings

• Use MS Word's Readability Statistics to count your characters for meta tags or SEO.

• Use the tool for blog posts, writing contests, and articles with precise word count limitations.

• Checking MS Word's Readability Statistics may become highly addictive!

References

• Grammar Girl: Active Voice Versus Passive Voice