Take the following two sentences into account: “The nurse administered medicine to the patient” and “The medicine was administered to the patient.” They convey the same idea and can both be classified as correct sentences in English. Nonetheless, the above sentences are not equal when it comes to writing an OET letter because of their voices. Voice might seem like a minor matter, but it affects clarity, professionalism, and your score positively.
In this article, we’ll cover active and passive voice in OET writing and provide simple explanations and examples that make it easier to understand how voices differ. We’ll show you how to create passive voice constructions, which situations require active and passive voice usage, and how to change the voice of a sentence in a split second. These recommendations will work in any case: referral letters, discharge letters, or transfer letters.
What active and passive voice actually mean
The person performing the action in the active voice comes first. The structure of this sentence is quite simple and consists of subject + verb + object. The sentence “The doctor examined the patient” is an example of active voice because the doctor does the action. You see the performer of the action first, and it gives you the feeling of directness.
In passive voice, on the other hand, the receiver comes first, followed by the doer of the action, or perhaps none at all. “The patient was examined by the doctor.” Same information, but viewed from a different perspective.
And that is what constitutes the difference between active and passive voice: what you lead with. Active leads with the doer and feels clear and personal. Passive leads with the receiver and feels more formal, a bit removed. Neither one is wrong. Each has a job, and a good letter normally uses both.
How the passive is built
Forming the passive voice involves the use of the form of the verb “to be” followed by the past participle of the main verb. The transformation of “The nurse changed the dressing” to “The dressing was changed” illustrates the same; “was” is a form of the verb “to be,” whereas “changed” is its past participle. With the ability to identify the pattern, the rest is simple.
However, there is one hard-and-fast rule that you cannot break. The verb in the passive sentence must always be transitive, which means that it should take an object. Since “admit” is transitive, the phrase “the patient was admitted” is perfectly good. On the other hand, since “sleep” is intransitive, there is no passive of the phrase “the patient slept.”
Want to name the doer? Add it at the end with “by.” This bit is the agent, sometimes called the by-agent. “The referral was made by the consultant.” A lot of the time you can just drop it when the doer is obvious, which keeps things short.
The second thing that people can have trouble with is tense. Here, however, the main verb is always going to be a past participle, and the “to be” verbs take on the tenses. These are the passive voice rules in English that you need to remember:
- Present: is/are checked, as in “The vitals are checked.”
- Past: was/were checked, as in “The vitals were checked.”
- Present perfect: has/have been checked, as in “The vitals have been checked.”
- Future: will be checked, as in “The vitals will be checked.”
- With a modal: should be checked, as in “The vitals should be checked.”
Get that verb tense agreement right and you protect a surprising number of easy marks.
When to use active voice in your OET letter
Employ active voice when performing actions yourself and asking others to perform actions. When you say why you are writing, active is cleaner. “I am referring Mrs. Anita Kumar for a cardiology review” tells the reader exactly what is going on; no guessing needed.
Active voice in an OET referral letter works best for your requests. Such short imperative statements as “Please check her insulin therapy” are respectful, brief, and easy to follow. The recipient of such a message is busy, and thus, it will be very kind of you.
Active voice also helps your sentence clarity and keeps the writing tight. Since OET letters live inside a 180 to 200 word limit, shorter active sentences free up space for the clinical detail that counts. Most good OET letter writing tips steer you toward active voice for your purpose and requests, because conciseness and clarity carry their own marks.
When to use passive voice in OET writing
Understanding when to use passive voice in OET is important as well. The passive voice should be used in situations where either the performer is obvious or is irrelevant.
On a ward, everyone knows that it was either the nurses or doctors who completed those standard tasks, and mentioning their names every time would get boring very quickly. “Routine observations were recorded four times a day” sounds better than specifying who exactly performed that action. Read any examples of passive voice in nursing notes, and you will find the following: “Catheter was inserted,” “Blood samples were taken,” and “The wound was dressed and redressed each day.”
Passive voice preserves objectivity and detachment, which are essential in such types of texts. It lets you write patient-centered sentences that hold the emphasis on the subject of your letter, who is the patient. “Mrs. Smith was admitted on 12 June and was started on intravenous fluids” flows nicely because she stays the focus throughout.
The catch is overdoing it. A letter made only of passive sentences gets long and a little slippery, and that costs you. So use it, but do not lean on it.
Changing one into the other
Swapping voices is a quick editing trick that earns its keep. For active-to-passive voice examples, move the object to the front and bring in the form of “to be.”
- The surgeon removed the sutures.
Becomes: The sutures were removed.
- The GP has prescribed a new tablet.
Becomes: A new tablet has been prescribed.
- We will discharge the patient tomorrow.
Becomes: The patient will be discharged tomorrow.
The reverse is passive to active voice conversion. If your objective is “how to change passive voice to active voice in one sentence,” locate the doer of the action, use that as your subject, and construct your verb in the same tense.
The advice was given by the dietitian. Becomes: The dietitian gave the advice.
- Pain relief will be provided by the ward team.
Becomes: The ward team will provide pain relief.
One thing to watch. If a passive sentence names no doer, you have to invent one before it can go active. “The medication was stopped” only becomes active once you know who stopped it. When you honestly do not know, leave it passive. That is usually why it was passive to begin with.
Other things to watch
A few OET writing common mistakes keep popping up around voice, and they are quick to fix once you notice them.
Look out for the double passive construction, where two passive constructions stack up one after the other, such as “The test was decided to be ordered.” It seems confusing and jumbled. Write “The team ordered the test” or just “The test was ordered.”
Drop the get-passive too. While speaking, we use “He got admitted,” while the correct version for the OET writing section would be “He was admitted.”
Do not forget about the problem of nominalization, that is, using verbs in the noun form. “An assessment of the wound was made” sounds too complicated. “The wound was assessed” says the same thing with less weight. Leave your verbs as verbs, and the writing stays light.
How voice affects your band score
Voice quietly works on your OET writing band score grammar. OET writing assessment criteria is concerned with the following aspects: purpose, content, conciseness and clarity, genre and style, organization and layout, and language.
Clear active sentences help your conciseness and clarity. Sensible use of passive voice in the clinical story helps genre and style, since a formal letter is meant to sound calm and measured. Correct verb forms land in language. So handling voice well, by following sound OET writing grammar rules, is one of the most down-to-earth answers to how to improve grammar in OET writing. You do not need fancy structures, just the right voice in the right place.
Quick practice
Try these three and check yourself below. Short active and passive voice exercises with answers like these test the basics you just read.
- Make it passive: The nurse monitored his blood pressure.
- Make it active: The sample was taken by the phlebotomist.
- Make it passive: We have arranged a follow-up.
Answers:
- His blood pressure was monitored.
- The phlebotomist took the sample.
- A follow-up has been arranged.
Train with the best OET academy in Kerala
Grammar like this lands faster when a trainer reads your own letters and shows you the fix on the spot. That is what Tiju’s Academy OET coaching is built around. We are widely rated among the best OET coaching centers in Kerala, and a lot of students reach us while hunting for the best institute for OET in Kerala, mostly because of how we teach, not only what we teach.
As an OET coaching centre, we run focused training across all four skills, with profession-specific roleplays and writing practice made for healthcare workers. You get letter-writing practice with real correction and feedback, speaking practice through exam-style roleplays, and regular mock tests with clear scoring guidance from trainers who know the test well.
What earns us the name best OET academy in Kerala is the set of signature sessions we built ourselves to tackle the exact spots where students get stuck:
- Medscriba: one-to-one writing sessions with expert correction
- Lexplorer: vocabulary and lexical building
- (EC)²: Empathy, Explanation and Clear Communication for speaking
- Phrasiology Jam: idioms and phrase building through reading
- Tuning Threshold: listening skill development activities
- Bandorium: top-tip sessions led by module heads
- Neurosync: short braingym activities to keep you sharp
- Thursquest: a full mock test every Thursday
- OETIENT: a proper orientation before you begin
- AOA: an accent-oriented approach for clearer speech
- EPIC: Emotionally Powerful Interactive Classrooms
- Rendering Boot: translation classes that back up your speaking
Rather study from home? Our OET online coaching and flexible OET online course options let you learn on your own time, from wherever you are. If you have been looking for the best OET coaching centre to finally get you over the line, sit in on a class and judge it for yourself.
Ready to start? Contact Tiju’s Academy or visit our OET course page to know more about our course and book your seat. Bring a writing sample, and we will help you get the voice and the score right
