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How to Add Passive Voice to Microsoft Word’s Grammar Check and Readability Statistics

By Erin Wright 8 Comments

Last week’s post discussed the difference between active voice and passive voice. The steps below explain how to add passive voice to Microsoft Word’s grammar check and readability statistics.

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than fifty other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Word 2013; however, these steps will work for Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2010.

For images from Word 2016, visit “How to Use the Passive Voice Tool in Word 2016.”

1. Select the File tab.

Word 2013 File tab

2. Select Options on the left-hand side of the Backstage view.

Word-2013-Options2

3. Select Proofing in the Word Options window.

Word 2013 Word Options Screen

4. Select Show readability statistics in the When correcting spelling and grammar in Word section.

5. Select Settings.

Word 2013 Writing Styles Settings

6. Select Passive sentences in the Grammar Settings window.

7. Click OK.

Word 2013 Grammar Settings

8. Select Recheck Document in the Word Options window if the document is already in progress. (This step isn’t necessary for blank documents.)

9. Select OK.

Word 2013 Recheck Document option

When you’re ready to run a grammar check:

10. Select the Review tab.

11. Select Spelling & Grammar.

Word 2013 Spelling & Grammar check in Review tab

 12. Change or ignore the results of your grammar check.

Passive voice result in Word 2013 grammar check

13. Review your passive sentence percentage in the Readability Statistics window. (This window won’t appear until you complete the grammar check.)

Passive sentences in the Readability Statistics window

14. Select OK.

And now you know if your writing leans toward passivity or activity!

8 Comments Filed Under: Microsoft Word Tagged With: readability, Word 2010, Word 2013, Word 2016, Word 2019, Word 365

Home » How to Add Passive Voice to Microsoft Word’s Grammar Check and Readability Statistics

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Technical Writer and Editor Erin WrightHello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares step-by-step software tutorials and writing tips for the real world on this blog and YouTube

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Comments

  1. Trease L Carpenter says

    October 18, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    How do you the passive sentence percentage in the readability statistics for Word 2016 in the Office 365 Business software? I can’t find it anywhere and as a freelance writer I need this readability statistic. Thanks.

    Reply
  2. Erin Wright says

    November 12, 2015 at 4:52 pm

    Hello, Trease. I apologize for taking so long to approve your comment. Unfortunately, WordPress sent it to the spam folder so I didn’t see it until moments ago.

    I have some bad news about Word 2016–it appears to have shipped without full grammar and style features, which would include the passive voice statistics. The thread linked below from the Microsoft Community suggests that these features will be added in the future, but I wasn’t able to find any information about when this will actually happen. I just upgraded to 2016, so I am upset about it, also.

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-word/where-did-the-check-style-and-grammar-option-go-in/98a247a1-8ff9-4c2f-bb2d-1147573ca5fd

    Reply
    • Diane Brenner says

      August 19, 2016 at 9:45 am

      As of late July, MS is reporting that Windows users will have an update sometime in late August, and Mac users sometime after that; that being said, if you are an Insider, you have the option already.

      Reply
      • Erin Wright says

        August 19, 2016 at 9:53 am

        Thank you for the information, Diane. I will keep an eye out for this update!

        Reply
  3. Doug Woodard says

    May 10, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    Passive voice check is now available in Word 2016.

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      May 10, 2017 at 3:05 pm

      Hi, Doug. Thank you for stopping by. I just updated Word on my laptop and you are correct, passive voice is back! That is great news!

      Reply
  4. rbruntmyer says

    July 6, 2018 at 10:50 am

    Thank you for making this available. It has taken a few minor adjustments to the Word 10 settings, but it works. I don’t see a “Review” tab or a Readability Statistics ever. Regardless, this has been extremely helpful.

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      July 8, 2018 at 4:27 pm

      Great, I’m glad you were able to modify this tutorial to help you with Word 2010!

      Reply

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