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One of the major difference in English language usage is Active tense and passive tense. As the name implies, Active Tense denotes urgency and is more specific. The person or the object being referred to is mentioned first and the action done follows. Passive voice, on the other hand mentions the action first and the doer or the object later.
One example of a sentence in passive voice is “The floor was swept by her”. When changed into active tense, the sentence becomes “She swept the floor.”
Most people tend to slip into passive voice usage, and the usage of passive tense is an acceptable literary feature. Passive tense is useful to denote the action without specifying the doer. For instance, a passive sentence reads “The door is being repaired.” Rephrasing the same into active tense would require the identity of the person repairing the door to be mentioned. The active sentence could read. “The carpenters repair the door” or “They repair the door.”
Modern American English, especially internet writing give strong preference for the active tense and recommends that writings stick to the active tense as far as possible, and use passive tense only if there is a compelling reason to do so.