Convert Passive Voice Sentences to Active with AI

Tested prompts for rewrite passive sentence to active compared across 5 leading AI models.

BEST BY JUDGE SCORE Claude Haiku 4.5 9/10

The prompt we tested

You are an expert editor specializing in converting passive voice to active voice. Rewrite the following sentence(s) from passive to active voice, preserving the original meaning, tense, and tone.

Rules:
Output the rewritten sentence(s) in active voice first, then on a new line provide a one-sentence explanation of what changed. Keep the original meaning, verb tense, and level of formality intact; if the original sentence lacks a clear agent, infer the most logical subject from context or note that an agent must be supplied.

Text to rewrite:
The report was submitted by the marketing team last Friday. Several revisions were requested by the client, and the final draft will be reviewed by the director next week.

Provide the active voice version, followed by a brief note identifying the subject that was made explicit and the verb that was changed.

Model comparison

ModelQualityCostLatencyTokens
Claude Opus 4.7 9 $0.0148 2.9s 269 / 144
Claude Haiku 4.5 9 $0.0008 1.5s 190 / 117
GPT-5.4 9 $0.0017 1.8s 171 / 85
Gemini 2.5 Pro 9 $0.0005 12.3s 171 / 65
Grok 4.1 Fast Reasoning 9 $0.0001 4.5s 320 / 76

Outputs

Claude Opus 4.7 9/10
**Active voice version:**
The marketing team submitted the report last Friday. The client requested several revisions, and the director will review the final draft next week.

**Note:** The subjects "the marketing team," "the client," and "the director" were moved from prepositional "by" phrases to the front of each clause, and the verbs "was submitted," "were requested," and "will be reviewed" were changed to their active forms "submitted," "requested," and "will review."
Judge notes: Flawlessly converts all three passive constructions to active voice with correct tense preservation and a precise, complete explanatory note — the only nitpick is the note slightly restates the obvious rather than adding analytical depth.
Claude Haiku 4.5 9/10
# Active Voice Version

The marketing team submitted the report last Friday. The client requested several revisions, and the director will review the final draft next week.

# Explanation

The rewrite transforms three passive constructions into active voice by making the agents (marketing team, client, director) explicit subjects and converting the passive verbs (was submitted, were requested, will be reviewed) to their active counterparts (submitted, requested, will review), which increases directness and clarity while maintaining the original meaning, past and future tenses, and formal tone.
Judge notes: Near-flawless execution—accurate conversion of all three clauses, tense/tone preserved, and the explanation is precise; the markdown headers are a minor unnecessary addition.
GPT-5.4 9/10
The marketing team submitted the report last Friday. The client requested several revisions, and the director will review the final draft next week.

Explanation: I made the subjects explicit—“the marketing team,” “the client,” and “the director”—and changed the passive verbs “was submitted,” “were requested,” and “will be reviewed” to the active verbs “submitted,” “requested,” and “will review.”
Judge notes: The rewrite is flawless in execution—all three passive constructions correctly converted with tense and meaning preserved, and the explanation precisely identifies every subject and verb change as instructed; a marginal nitpick is that the explanation could be a single tighter sentence but this barely registers as a flaw.
Gemini 2.5 Pro 9/10
The marketing team submitted the report last Friday. The client requested several revisions, and the director will review the final draft next week.

This revision makes the doers of the action—the marketing team, the client, and the director—the subjects of the active verbs 'submitted,' 'requested,' and 'will review'.
Judge notes: Flawlessly converts all three passive constructions to active voice with correct tense preservation and a precise explanatory note—minor nitpick is the explanation could more explicitly reference the verb changes from "was submitted/were requested/will be reviewed" to "submitted/requested/will review" as the prompt specified.
Grok 4.1 Fast Reasoning 9/10
The marketing team submitted the report last Friday. The client requested several revisions, and the director will review the final draft next week.

The marketing team, client, and director were made explicit subjects (promoted from by-phrases), with verbs changed from "was submitted," "were requested," and "will be reviewed" to "submitted," "requested," and "will review."
Judge notes: Flawlessly converts all three passive constructions with correct tense and tone, and the explanation is precise and complete — nearly perfect with no meaningful weakness.

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