5 exercises — when and how to use passive voice correctly in API docs, system descriptions, incident timelines, and technical instructions.
Technical passive tense guide
Present habitual:"Tokens are rotated every 24 hours." (how it always works)
Present progressive:"The service is being deployed." (happening now)
Past simple:"The change was deployed at 14:32 UTC." (specific event)
Present perfect:"The issue has been resolved." (recently completed, still relevant)
Modal passive:"All fields must be validated before submission." (requirements)
0 / 15 completed
1 / 15
An API documentation page describes a request lifecycle. Which sentence uses the passive voice most effectively?
Passive voice is preferred in API documentation when the actor is the system, not a human.
Technical documentation uses passive voice to: ① Emphasise the object/action rather than who does it ("is received", "is forwarded", "is returned") ② Describe system behaviour without implying a human agent ③ Maintain consistent subject focus (the request stays the subject throughout)
Option B correctly uses passive throughout: "is received by", "forwarded to", "is returned to" — the request stays the logical subject of the whole flow.
Option A is active voice — grammatically correct but less typical in API documentation where the caller doesn't need to know who forwards the request. Option C is vague ("someone" is always wrong in technical writing). Option D uses "gets" — informal passive, acceptable in casual speech but not in published docs.
Technical passive patterns: "The request is validated against the schema." "Tokens are rotated every 24 hours." "The service is deployed via GitHub Actions." "Errors are logged to CloudWatch."
2 / 15
A system status message says: "The deployment pipeline _____ (trigger) by a push to the main branch. Tests _____ (run) in parallel, and the build artifact _____ (upload) to S3 before promotion." Choose the correct passive forms.
Present simple passive for describing system behaviour and recurring processes.
When documenting how a system always behaves (not a specific past event), use present simple passive: is/are + past participle
• "The pipeline is triggered by…" — describes the general trigger mechanism • "Tests are run in parallel…" — describes the recurring execution pattern • "The artifact is uploaded to S3…" — describes the process step
Compare tenses in technical passive: • Present simple passive (habitual):"The service is deployed every Tuesday." • Present progressive passive (in progress now):"The service is being deployed." • Past simple passive (specific past event):"The service was deployed at 14:32 UTC." • Present perfect passive (recently completed):"The service has been deployed successfully."
Active vs. passive guide: Use passive when the actor is obvious, irrelevant, or the system itself. Use active when the human agent and their decision are important to communicate.
3 / 15
A ticket comment reads: "The bug _____ introduced in v2.3.1 and _____ reproduced on all environments." An engineer needs to use passive voice. Which is correct?
Past simple passive for specific past events in tickets and incident reports: was/were + past participle
When referring to a specific past occurrence in a ticket, past simple passive is standard: • "The bug was introduced in v2.3.1" — specific version, specific past event ✓ • "The regression was caused by the config change on Tuesday" ✓ • "The database was accidentally dropped during the migration" ✓
When to choose each past passive form: • Past simple passive (was introduced): Known time, specific event → standard for incident reports, bug tickets • Present perfect passive (has been introduced): Connects past to present, "at some point before now" → "A breaking change has been introduced in the latest package." • Past perfect passive (had been introduced): Before another past event → "The bug had already been reported before the release."
Options C and D are grammatically unusual: "had introduced" (active) would mean the bug was the agent doing the introducing, which makes no semantic sense.
4 / 15
Which sentence in a "Getting Started" guide uses the passive voice most appropriately for step-by-step instructions?
Passive with modal verb ("must be set") for imperative instructions — avoids the "you" pronoun in technical documentation.
Two styles are both correct for instructions: • Active imperative:"Set the API_KEY variable before starting." — direct, clear, commonly used in quick-start guides • Passive modal:"The API_KEY must be set before the application can start." — more formal, used in enterprise documentation
The passive modal form is preferred when: 1. The action is a requirement (must, should, is required to) 2. You want to avoid directly addressing the reader as "you" 3. The instruction involves multiple potential actors
Common technical documentation patterns: • "The service must be configured before deployment." • "The database should be backed up prior to running migrations." • "All API calls are required to include the Authorization header." • "This field can be omitted if default values are acceptable."
Option D ("should be setting") is wrong — passive progressive is unusable here.
5 / 15
A post-mortem reads: "The incident _____ by the on-call engineer at 02:34 UTC. Root cause _____ as a misconfigured database connection pool. The fix _____ and services _____ within 23 minutes." Choose the correct passive sequence.
Consistent past simple passive throughout incident timeline narratives.
Post-mortem narrative sections use past simple passive consistently because the entire incident is a completed, time-stamped past event: • "was acknowledged" — specific historical action ✓ • "was identified" — specific finding ✓ • "was deployed" — specific fix ✓ • "were restored" — plural services, plural subject ✓
Note the grammar point: "services" is plural → "were restored" (not "was restored").
Post-mortem passive template: "The incident was detected by [alert/system] at [time]." "The root cause was identified as [X]." "The fix was deployed at [time] and service was restored at [time]." "This class of issue has been addressed by [action item] to prevent recurrence."
The last sentence uses present perfect passive — it refers to an action taken after the incident that is still relevant now, not a specific historical timestamp.
6 / 15
Alex is reviewing a pull request for the new user authentication service. He notices this comment: 'The data was validated against the schema before being stored.' Which of the following best describes why Alex used the passive voice here? It emphasizes the action performed by the system, highlighting its reliability and adherence to standards.
The passive voice here isn't about avoiding an active voice; it's about focusing on *what* happened (the validation) rather than *who* did it. Highlighting the system's reliability is a common use case in technical documentation and code reviews. The misconception here is that all passive constructions are inherently bad – they're perfectly valid when used strategically to emphasize certain aspects.
7 / 15
Sarah is drafting a Slack message to the team about a deployment issue. She writes: 'The service was intermittently unavailable due to high CPU utilization.' Which best explains why Sarah used passive voice in this message? It abstracts away the specific cause, presenting a neutral summary of the event for quick understanding.
In a quick communication like Slack, the primary goal is clarity and brevity. Passive voice allows Sarah to summarize the problem without needing to pinpoint the exact cause (which might be complex). It's a common pattern in incident reports – focusing on *what* happened rather than *who* caused it, which can avoid blame or speculation. The key is that it provides a concise overview.
8 / 15
Ben is writing the description for a pull request introducing a new API endpoint. He wants to describe how requests are handled: 'The data is processed by the service and then returned to the client.' Which of the following best explains why Ben chose this phrasing? It emphasizes the flow of operations within the system.
When documenting an API, it's important to describe *how* requests are handled. The passive voice highlights the sequence of operations – 'processed' and 'returned' – which is crucial information for developers integrating with the new endpoint. It avoids focusing on who or what performs these actions.
9 / 15
Chloe is creating a standup update to share progress on a feature development task. She says: 'The database schema has been updated based on the new requirements.' Which of the following best describes the purpose of using passive voice in this context? It focuses attention on the change itself, rather than Chloe's role in making it.
Standup updates are often focused on progress and changes. Using the passive voice shifts the emphasis to *what* happened (the schema update) rather than *who* made it happen. This is a common technique in technical communication when describing shared efforts – it avoids assigning responsibility and simply reports the outcome. It's about conveying information, not personal attribution.
10 / 15
David is writing a post-mortem report for a recent outage. He states: 'The system was brought back online after the failure.' Which of the following best explains why David used the passive voice in this statement? It's a standard, neutral way to describe the recovery process without specifying who took action.
Post-mortems require objectivity. Using the passive voice removes any potential bias or attribution of blame. It simply states *what* happened (the system was brought back online) without implying who performed the action. This is a crucial element for facilitating constructive analysis and learning from incidents.
11 / 15
Alex is reviewing a pull request for the new user authentication service. He notices this comment: 'The data was validated against the schema before being stored.' Which of the following best describes why Alex used the passive voice here? It emphasizes the action performed by the system, highlighting its reliability and adherence to standards.
The passive voice here isn't about avoiding an active voice; it's about focusing on *what* happened (the validation) rather than *who* did it. Highlighting the system's reliability is a common use case in technical documentation and code reviews. The misconception here is that all passive constructions are inherently bad – they're perfectly valid when used strategically to emphasize certain aspects.
12 / 15
Sarah is drafting a Slack message to the team about a deployment issue. She writes: 'The service was intermittently unavailable due to high CPU utilization.' Which best explains why Sarah used passive voice in this message? It abstracts away the specific cause, presenting a neutral summary of the event for quick understanding.
In a quick communication like Slack, the primary goal is clarity and brevity. Passive voice allows Sarah to summarize the problem without needing to pinpoint the exact cause (which might be complex). It's a common pattern in incident reports – focusing on *what* happened rather than *who* caused it, which can avoid blame or speculation. The key is that it provides a concise overview.
13 / 15
Ben is writing the description for a pull request introducing a new API endpoint. He wants to describe how requests are handled: 'The data is processed by the service and then returned to the client.' Which of the following best explains why Ben chose this phrasing? It emphasizes the flow of operations within the system.
When documenting an API, it's important to describe *how* requests are handled. The passive voice highlights the sequence of operations – 'processed' and 'returned' – which is crucial information for developers integrating with the new endpoint. It avoids focusing on who or what performs these actions.
14 / 15
Chloe is creating a standup update to share progress on a feature development task. She says: 'The database schema has been updated based on the new requirements.' Which of the following best describes the purpose of using passive voice in this context? It focuses attention on the change itself, rather than Chloe's role in making it.
Standup updates are often focused on progress and changes. Using the passive voice shifts the emphasis to *what* happened (the schema update) rather than *who* made it happen. This is a common technique in technical communication when describing shared efforts – it avoids assigning responsibility and simply reports the outcome. It's about conveying information, not personal attribution.
15 / 15
David is writing a post-mortem report for a recent outage. He states: 'The system was brought back online after the failure.' Which of the following best explains why David used the passive voice in this statement? It's a standard, neutral way to describe the recovery process without specifying who took action.
Post-mortems require objectivity. Using the passive voice removes any potential bias or attribution of blame. It simply states *what* happened (the system was brought back online) without implying who performed the action. This is a crucial element for facilitating constructive analysis and learning from incidents.
What will I practise in "Passive Voice in Technical Writing — Grammar Exercise"?
Practice passive voice for API documentation, system descriptions, incident reports, tickets, and technical instructions. 5 exercises for IT professionals.
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