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A sentence is in active voice when the subject takes the action, e.g., “He ran.” It’s in passive voice when the subject is acted upon, e.g., “He was spoken to in a loud voice.”
Active-voice sentences make clear who is responsible for the action; passive-voice sentences don’t. That is why sentences in active voice are more precise, more telling and more satisfying to read.
So, what’s wrong with passive voice?
Consider an eight-year-old girl who has just dropped a quart of milk on the floor. She will usually say, “The milk spilled.” Rarely will she say, “I spilled the milk.” She won’t take responsibility for her
action. Passive-voice sentences work that way—they give you information, but you always get the impression you’re not getting the full story. Passive voice doesn’t build trust. Active voice does.
When is it okay to “go passive?”
1. Passive voice works—and, in fact, is necessary—when you don’t know who performed the action:
“The car was stolen.”
“The finalists were announced first.”
Even if you don’t know who acted, you can always turn those sentences into active voice by using, “Someone…”
“Someone stole the car.” That sentence is in active voice, but it doesn’t reveal who stole it.
2. Passive voice is okay when the action itself is more important than who did the action—and you don’t want to get involved in who did it.
“Our country was founded on the principle that ‘all men are created equal.’”
I wrote that sentence in passive voice because I didn’t want to get involved in telling you who founded our country. I really didn’t want to write, “The Founding Fathers based our country on the principle that ‘all
men are created equal.’” I wanted to focus only on our country “being founded.” Passive voice to the rescue!
3. Passive voice works when tact is required. You may know very well who committed the action, but you may prefer not to say:
“The child was disciplined.”
“The laptop was taken from the office.”
If a program was a disaster, you may not want to bring up who started it. Thus,
you might be better advised to write, “The program was initiated…” than “Mayor Avery started the program.”
The worst abuse of passive voice…
State-of-being verbs combined with past tense:
(is, was, were) + (past tense)
“…was produced by…”
“…were made to…”
“…is created for…”
“…is chased into…”
Don’t go there. Unless you really want to.
Tip:
You never have to write, “The program is comprised of four parts.” Write, “The program comprises four parts.”
Tip:
If you decide to use passive voice in one sentence, make certain the sentences before and after it are in active voice.
Summing up…
Active = Good
Passive = Bad
Except in certain cases where:
Active = Bad
Passive = Good
Could I be any clearer?
And if you really want some good advice:
Get a good night’s sleep.
Brush your teeth.
Stand up straight.
Keep a smile on your face.
And keep thinking active thoughts.
See you next month.
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