McGregor, Texas, McGinley Memorial Public Library Books and Friends: When to Use Active and Passive Voice

Active & Passive Voice Instruction Online


With active voice, the pen is mightier than the sword.

Evelyn Smith

Ph. D. English (Texas Christian University, 1995)

MS, Library Science (University of North Texas, 2012)

Online Writing Advice Comes First:

Active and Passive Voice. (2011, July 13). OWL. Purdue Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/01/

Since Purdue’s OWL is probably where most college composition instructors would send their students, users should strive to understand and follow the Web site’s advice or the advice of their own high school, college, or university writing lab:

Active voice sentences are easier to understand because they are shorter and usually more detailed. Passive voice sentences, on the other hand, create awkward sounding sentences that usually sound “uninteresting” to native-English speakers. Scientific writing, however, uses the passive voice when the identity of who is performing an action is unimportant. Passive voice can also be “rhetorically effective in a given situation”.

In active voice, the subject performs the action. Example: The cat caught the rat.

In passive voice, the subject is acted upon: The rat was caught.

To recognize passive voice, look for a form of the verb to be:

[BIB WAB WA: Be, is, being, was, am, been, were.

Yes, it's a silly acronym, but it has always worked for my classes.]

But Practical Tips Help:

Fogarty, Mignon. (2010, July 22). Active Voice versus passive voice. Grammar Girl. Quick and Dirty Tips.com. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/active-voice-versus-passive-voice?page=all

Grammar Girl often gives an easy-to-understand spin on grammar, and Fogarty usually fills in the blanks, taking Web surfers where university sponsored Online writing sites don’t go. She thus defines active and passive voice, but she also warns that “be verbs” aren’t always a sign of the passive. Nevertheless, in a passive voice sentence, the subject never takes any direct action.

Not only are passive voice sentences vague and wordy, but politicians and others who don’t want to take responsibility for their actions often use it Crime reports, however, conventionally use the passive since the actor is unknown, as does scientific writing when who does something is unimportant. Scientific style, however, now also permits the use of active voice as long as the writer puts him or herself in the background. For example, instead of writing "This theory is proved by the data" a scientific article might state "Data proves this theory". It wouldn't say, "We proved this theory".

Come now, using active voice isn't that hard!

Active & Passive Voice Videos:

Balance the use of grammar videos against the advice of Online writing Web sites and rhetoric and composition textbooks published for the U. S. college market since some videos aimed at an audience of English as a Second Language speakers give different advice than what American freshman composition instructors are teaching their students: Use the active voice except when the author cannot determine the actor’s identity, or if knowing what happened is traditionally much more important than establishing who did what; for example, when preparing a crime report or a scientific lab report.

English Teacher Adam. ( 2012, September 29). The Passive: When, Why, and how to use it. Engvid.com. (11:38 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6pHfjH0Efg

Although English Teacher Adam certainly knows how to change the active to the passive voice—a passive sentence reverses the word order, so the object turns into the subject, and the subject becomes the agent that receives the action—he hasn’t compared notes with U. S. composition instructors.

Adam’s reason to use the passive hold a grain of truth:

1) Scientific writing often uses the passive since the subject is not important;

2) Transition words coupled with the passive voice can shift the focus of the subject.

Viewers, however, would do well to remember that U. S. instructors prefer that students stay in the same voice and tense throughout a paper unless the text provides transition phrases that signal a change in voice. Similarly, writers should not switch back and forth between tenses without signaling what they are doing.

3) The limited use of passive—if it fits the situation--can provide sentence variety; for example, the passage may emphasize that someone lacks the power to take any actions.

4) Passive voice can also help the writer control coherence and flow.

What this ESL video doesn’t say is that most American composition instructors have traditionally counted off a letter grade or more if their students use passive voice because they think that it makes writing wordy and less specific. The APA Publication Manual (2009), for example, notes: “Prefer the active voice . . . The passive voice is acceptable in expository writing and when you want to focus on the object or recipient of the action rather than the active” (p. 77). Expository writing, in this instance, refers to the writing of lab reports and science research papers.

Reference:

Publication Manual. (2009). American Psychological Association. 6^th ed. American Psychological Association: Washington, D. C.

Gonzalez, Mario. (2008, October 13). English grammar clip—passive voice. Smart Teaching Online. 5:50 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNk4q3K2CFM

What to take away from Gonzalez’s video: Active voice creates shorter, crisper sentences than passive voice, although writers should be able to change active to passive voice or passive to active voice as the need demands.

When using passive voice, follow these steps:

1) Identify who is doing the action;

2) Contrast the difference between the active and passive voice;

3) Observe the passive voice construction:

Object [used as subject] + a Be Verb * Main Verb in Past Participle Verb

4) Modals can be used to express a passive idea;

5) Passive sentences may be formed with a direct object or an indirect object.

McGovern, J. (2012, December 16). Active and Passive Verbs. Powtoon. (3:31 minutes). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlaZS7eUAgo

McGovern upholds the traditional point-of-view that the use of active verbs makes for more detailed and interested prose. She also notes that composition and rhetoric textbooks often refer to passive voice verbs as state of being verbs or linking verbs.

McGovern finds passive voice more tedious than active voice since active voice sentences can add detail by using specific nouns and precise verbs. She also suggests that writers wishing to avoid the use of the passive voice memorize the present and past tenses of the verb to be (am, are, is, was, were, being, been).

Perfect English: The passive voice. (2009, February 17). BildungInteractiv. (8:02 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_9vbfYpAo

BildungInteractiv explains when to use the passive, and some of its advice actually jives with what rhetoric and composition teachers are telling their students; for instance:

1) The writer should use the passive voice if he or she doesn’t know who or what is the cause of the action, but identifying who is doing something often adds necessary detail.

2) Knowing how to switch back and forth from the active to the passive—or passive to active—can result in a better control of style since this ability will make an essay more effective and persuasive.

This German video also explains how to build a passive voice construction:

1) The simple passive is composed of a be verb + a sometimes unnamed agent, shown by the use of a by prepositional phrase. Example: The car was driven by Max. or The car was driven.

2) The passive voice with a modal auxiliary: modal auxiliary + a form of the verb to be + the past participle. The car had been driven by Max. or The car had been driven.

It’s important not to separate a verbal participle from its verb: Example: Shoddy service was being put up with by the public.

3) The passive progressive: to be verb + being + past particle. Example: The car was being driven by Max. or The car was being driven.

Here the reader can easily see that the active voice—“Max drove the car” and “The public put up with shoddy service”--keep the attention of most English-speaking audiences better than passive voice sentences do.

Rockhill, Barry. (2009, June 8). Active and passive voice. GBC Learning. (2:59 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqVCALm5nQw

Rockhill repeats the advice that most college freshman composition instructors tell their students: Most audiences prefer active to passive voice. He also notes that business writing emphasizes active over passive voice, although passive voice does have some legitimate uses--to build suspense or be less confrontational. Nevertheless, Rockhill suggests that business and personal writing should use active voice 90 percent of the time.

Yossarian the Grammarian. (2010, April 28). Active voice and passive voice. WatchKnowLearn.org. (8:17 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=3564

Knowing the difference between active and passive voice helps writers create sentences that fit the situation. Passive voice, however, has some disadvantages: 1) It is wordy: The passive voice form of the verb will always be one word longer than the active voice. 2) Active voice expresses difficult concepts more easily while passive voice sounds stilted and awkward to Native English speakers.

Now for Some Practice:

Change these passive voice sentences taken from mystery and romance novels to active voice and then look at some possible revisions that follow. Try to keep the meaning of the original sentence, although you may need to supply some missing information or break a really long sentence into two sentences and add specific nouns.

All these sentences come from the Amazon.com Web site, so if you want some additional practice, a ready supply of passive voice sentences is Online.

1) The adjoining room had been apportioned for a dressing room, and her valise was already empty—a man servant placing her meager garments in the linen press.

Bolen, Cheryl. (2011). My Lord Wicked. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services (Kindle), ch. 2, para. 3).

2) If someone composed a soundtrack to her life at a shop, then every mention of Hamlet would be accompanied by shrieking violins and an ominous dum-dum stinger.

Brandon, Ali, (2012). A Novel Way to Die. New York: Berkeley.

3) Vines had been woven around the black iron so thickly the gravestones were hidden.

Hargrove, William Eliot. (1995). Tobacco Sticks. 2nd ed. 2013. Rosebud.

4) My musings were interrupted by muttering from the area where I planned to plant a rose garden and eventually add a gazebo.

Macomber, Debbie. Rose Harbor in Bloom. New York: Ballantine.

5) There was soot on the bricks that should have been scrubbed away long ago.

Merrill, Christine. (2013). The Inconvenient Duchess. Harlequin Historical. Don Mills, Ontario.

6) His angular jaw, strong and determined, was shaded with a beard growth that was probably a day old, maybe more.

Mondella, Lisa. (20001). Her Heart for the Asking. New York: Avalon.

7) She likes to draw, keeps a record of her thoughts, and has been instructed on how to become a good wife.

Nordin, Ruth Ann. ( 2012). The Earl’s Inconvenient Wife. N. P.: Ruth Ann Nordin Books.

8) Hester was overwhelmed by a sudden, wretching memory of her own father as she seen him before she had left for the Crimea, a dozen years ago, when this young woman was still a child.

Perry, Anne. (2011). Blind Justice. New York: Ballantine.

9) I am informed, by the self-appointed Critic who reads over my shoulder as I write, that I have already committed an error.

Peters, Elizabeth. (1975). Crocodile on the Sandbank. Reprint 2013. New York: Mystery Press

10) According to the police report, the professor had been stabbed twenty seven times. The first one slicing his heart, killing him instantly. Robbie’s other stabbings were afterthoughts, a little something to remember him by.

Sherratt, Jeff. (2011). The Brimstone Murders. Newport Beach, California: N Nova (Kindle).

Possible Answers:

1) A valet was putting her few clothes in the linen press while her empty valise sat in the adjoining dressing room.

2) If someone composed a soundtrack to her life at a shop, then shrieking violin and an ominous dum-dum stinger would accompany every mention of Hamlet.

3) Vines wove around the black iron so thickly they hid the gravestones.

4) I heard muttering from where I planned to plant roses and eventually add a gazebo.

5) A scullery maid should have scrubbed away the soot on the bricks long ago.

6) A day-old beard shaded an angular jaw.

7) She likes to draw, keeps a dairy, and is learning how to become a good wife.

8) Hester suddenly felt the urge to throw up when she remembered last seeing her own father before she left for the Crimea twelve years ago. At that time, the young woman Hester saw before her was still a child.

9) The self-appointed critic over my shoulder informs me that I have already committed an error.

10) An autopsy disclosed that a carving knife stabbed the victim 27 times, the first blow slicing his heart, killing him instantly. Robbie’s other stabbing delivered grizzly afterthoughts as souvenirs.

[Some instructors still don’t want their students to end a sentence with a preposition.]

Be on guard for "purple prose"!

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http://www.khanacademy.org/about ____________ http://www.copyblogger.com/the-first-draft/ Farnsworth doesn't mention whether to use active or passive voice, although making sure a composition is in active voice often is part of the revising process.