Which of these would be the active voice?

I'm trying to rewrite something and here's the issue:

or

I think the second one follows the active voice, but somehow the first one seems to sound a little better?

Thanks in advance

 

the second one

 

The second is active voice. Usually you are better off with active voice.

 

Thanks guys for the response!

One more question about active vs. passive. Would this sentence be in the active voice?

Magazine cut-outs covered the walls and ceiling.

vs

The walls and ceiling were covered in magazine cut-outs

 

Magazine cut-outs covered the walls and ceiling = active voice.

To understand if a sentence is active, you must ask yourself if the agent that does the action is in the sentence.

The cup was spilled? = passive, who spilled the cup?

The cup was spilled by whom? = passive, for the agent was added in with a prepositional phrase.

Who spilled the cup? = active

 

Okay, thanks! I think I'm starting to grasp this

 

Note the presence of the auxilliary verb were, derived from the verb to be. This is the usual indicator of passive voice.