Using Active Voice: Employing Active Voice for Clarity and Impact
Grant Writing

Using Active Voice: Employing Active Voice for Clarity and Impact

Active voice is a powerful tool in writing grant proposals, enhancing clarity and impact. Using active voice can make your writing more direct, engaging, and easy to understand for reviewers.

The Importance of Active Voice

Active voice makes your writing clearer and more dynamic by emphasizing the subject performing the action. This direct approach can make your sentences shorter and more straightforward, enhancing readability. For example, “The research team will conduct the study” (active voice) is clearer and more engaging than “The study will be conducted by the research team” (passive voice). Using active voice also conveys confidence and authority, as it directly attributes actions to specific subjects. This can make your proposal more persuasive by clearly showing who will carry out each aspect of the project.

Addressing Misconceptions about Active Voice

A common misconception is that passive voice is more formal and suitable for academic writing. However, passive voice can often lead to vague or convoluted sentences that are harder to follow. Another misconception is that using active voice means simplifying or oversimplifying complex ideas. In reality, active voice can convey complex information more clearly by making it easier for readers to identify the subject and action. Understanding these benefits helps you appreciate the value of active voice in enhancing the clarity and impact of your writing.

Steps to Use Active Voice Effectively

Start by identifying and revising passive sentences in your writing. Look for sentences where the action is performed by an unspecified or unclear subject. For example, change “Data will be analyzed” to “We will analyze the data.” Ensure that the subject performing the action is clear and prominently placed at the beginning of the sentence. Practice rewriting complex sentences in active voice to improve clarity and engagement. Additionally, read your writing aloud to identify and correct any awkward or unclear passages.

Summary

Using active voice is a powerful way to enhance the clarity and impact of your grant proposal. By emphasizing the subject performing the action, you make your writing more direct, engaging, and easy to understand. Dispelling misconceptions about the formality and complexity of active voice helps you appreciate its benefits in academic writing. Moving forward, practice using active voice to improve the readability and persuasiveness of your grant proposals, increasing their chances of success.

Article publié pour la première fois le 06/12/2024

Further Reading

The 95/5 Rule of Exceptional Programs: Where Research Administrators Should (Actually) Invest Their Effort
The Power of the “Grace Note”: How Small Moments Create Outsized Impact in Research Administration
Budget Planning and Allocation: Effective Strategies for Planning and Allocating Your Budget
Intentionality is Not Optional: Designing Research Administration Experiences on Purpose
People Will Forget What You Did—But Not How You Made Them Feel: The Emotional Impact of Research Administration
Why “Good Enough” Will Never Be Memorable: Rethinking Excellence in Research Administration
Service is Black and White. Hospitality is Color: Reframing Excellence in Research Administration
Disclaimer: I was not compensated, sponsored, or asked to promote this book in any way—I simply found it valuable and worth sharing. A Different Kind of Book Club In academic settings, the idea of a “book club” often feels informal—something reserved for personal growth or casual discussion. Yet some books demand a more deliberate kind of engagement, particularly when they challenge the way we approach our work. Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect is one of those books. While it is grounded in the world of fine dining, its core message extends far beyond restaurants: any profession can choose to operate in the hospitality business. In research administration, this idea is both unexpected and deeply relevant (Guidara, 2022). At its core, Unreasonable Hospitality argues that excellence is not enough to differentiate an organization—what matters is how people feel as a result of their experience. This concept challenges the traditional framing of research administration as a primarily procedural or compliance-driven function. While accuracy, timeliness, and regulatory adherence remain essential, they are also widely expected. What is less common—and far more impactful—is the intentional design of experiences that are clear, supportive, and memorable. This shift from task execution to experience design forms the foundation of this series. This is not a book review. It is a translation exercise. Over the next series of posts, we will take key concepts from Unreasonable Hospitality and apply them directly to research administration—exploring how ideas such as service versus hospitality, intentionality, small moments of impact, and leadership behaviors can reshape the way we support faculty, scholars, and trainees. Each post will focus on a single principle, offering both reflection and practical application. The goal is not simply to understand the ideas, but to integrate them into daily practice. Framing this series as a “book club” is intentional. A book club implies participation, reflection, and conversation—not passive consumption. The invitation is not just to read, but to consider: How do these ideas apply to your own work? Where do they challenge your current approach? What might change if you adopted them more fully? In this way, the series becomes a shared exploration of how research administration can evolve—not through large-scale transformation alone, but through small, intentional shifts in how we approach our roles. Importantly, this series also recognizes the context in which research administrators operate. The work is complex, deadlines are fixed, and resources are often limited. The goal is not to add more to an already full workload, but to rethink how existing work is experienced. Many of the concepts explored—clarity in communication, anticipation of needs, consistency in leadership—require minimal additional time, yet have significant impact. This is the central promise of unreasonable hospitality: that small, thoughtful actions can create disproportionately meaningful experiences. Ultimately, this series is about expanding how we define excellence in research administration. If service is the baseline, hospitality becomes the differentiator. If processes define what we do, experiences define how that work is remembered. By engaging with these ideas over time, we can begin to articulate a more intentional, human-centered approach to our work—one that aligns precision with purpose. ________________________________________ What to Expect in This Series Over the next several posts, we will explore themes including: • The difference between service and hospitality • Why “good enough” is not memorable • The role of intentionality in designing experiences • The impact of small, thoughtful moments • Leadership behaviors that shape culture and trust • Balancing systems with personalization • Defining your own signature experience Each post will build on the last, creating a cohesive framework for applying these ideas within research administration. ________________________________________ Action Items to Get Started • Begin with awareness. As you move through your work this week, notice where interactions feel transactional versus experiential. • Select one upcoming interaction and consider how you might intentionally shape the experience. • Approach this series actively. Reflect on each concept and identify one small way to apply it in your context. • Engage your team. Consider discussing these ideas collectively to build shared language and alignment. This is not about doing more. It is about doing what we already do—with greater intention.
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