When do you use active voice?

Generally speaking, the active voice is the preferred voice in formal and
academic writing. It is seen as more direct and often makes sentences easier
to read or understand. Even in casual speech and writing, the active voice
tends to come more naturally to most people. That being said, there are
specific instances where the active voice is particularly useful.

When writing shorter sentences

Often, the active voice results in shorter, more direct sentences than the
passive voice. You can see this is the following two sentences:

 Active: I saw her. (Three words)

 Passive: She was seen by me. (Five words)
To give sentences a sense of authority
Because the performer of an action cannot be omitted in a sentence that uses
the active voice, the active voice often sounds more authoritative. You’ll notice
this difference in the following two sentences:

 Active: The president made the decision.

 Passive: The decision was made.
Even if the performer of an action isn’t omitted, the passive voice often sounds
weaker and less impactful because it typically shifts the focus away from the
performer:

 The decision was made by the president.

To make sentences easier to understand and absorb
As mentioned earlier, the active voice is more direct than the passive voice.
As a result, sentences that use the active voice are usually easier to
understand than the often rambling and confusing sentences written in
passive voice. For example,

 Active: I finished my homework and then met my friends at the

mall. They told me that Ashley was going to be late.
 Passive: The homework was finished by me before my
friends were met by me at the mall. The fact that Ashley was going
to be late was told to me by them.
The performer is unimportant, obvious, or unknown 
If an actor is not known, is unimportant, or is obvious, the passive voice may
be used. For example,

 The man was sentenced to 10 years in prison. (The action was

obviously performed by a judge.)
 An escaped tiger was seen prowling the city. (It isn’t important who
specifically saw the tiger.)
 The car was stolen! (It is unknown who stole the car.)