Grammar Tip of the Week!

Week FiveActive vs. Passive Voice

(from Strunk and White’s Elements of Style)

Use the Active Voice in Your WritingGood writing is concise, concrete, and

vigorous.The active voice is usually more direct

and vigorous than the passive.Passive Voice: WRONG!

My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me.

Active Voice: CORRECT!I shall always remember my first visit to

Boston.

Active vs. Passive VoiceThe passive sentence on the previous slide

is less direct, less bold, and less concise.What happens if the writer tries to make it

more concise by omitting “by me?”My first visit to Boston will always be

remembered.This example is indefinite. Is it the

writer or some person undisclosed or the world at large that will always remember this visit?

Major DifferencesThe passive voice differs from the active voice in

three (3) ways:The subject expresses the goal of the action.A form of the verb be precedes a verb in its

past tense.The agent of the action appears after the

verb in a verb- phrase (but it may also be dropped).

Examples:The bag was opened by Dan. (PASSIVE)

The subject is the bag, but the bag does nothing at all; it has something done to it!

Dan opened the bag. (ACTIVE)

Can I Ever Use the Passive Voice?The passive voice does not have to be entirely

disregarded. In fact, it is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.The dramatists of the Romantic Period are little

esteemed today.Modern readers have little esteem for the

dramatists of the Romantic Period.The first example would be the preferred form

in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Romantic Period, the second in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers.

The need of making a particular word the subject of the sentence will often, as in these examples, determine which voice is to be used.

Can I Ever Use the Passive Voice?The Passive is used:

when the agent (the person who does the action) is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from the context. Jane was shot. (We don’t know who shot her.) This church was built in 1815. (Unimportant

agent) He has been arrested. (Obviously by the

police) to make more polite or formal statements.

The car hasn’t been cleaned. (more polite) You haven’t cleaned the car. (less polite)

Can I Ever Use the Passive Voice?The Passive is used:

when the action is more important than the agent (as in instructions, reports, headlines, and advertisements.) 30 people were killed in the earthquake.

to put emphasis on the agent. The new library will be opened by the Queen.

Active VoiceDespite the occasional need for the passive, the

habitual use of the active voice makes for forcible, vigorous writing.

This is true not only in narrative concerned principally with action but in writing of any kind.

Many a tame sentence of description can be made lively and emphatic by substituting an active verb for some “lazy” expression as there is or could be heard.PASSIVE: There were a great number of dead leaves

lying on the ground.ACTIVE: Dead leaves covered the ground.

Other ExamplesNotice, in the examples below, that when a

sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter.“At dawn the crowing of the rooster could

be heard.” BECOMES “The rooster’s crow came with dawn.”

“It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had.” BECOMES “He soon repented his words.”

Brevity is a by-product of vigor! Concise and direct writing is the most powerful!

Fix the Following Passive SentencesThe room was cleaned.Mistakes were made.Bells were rung, horns were blown, confetti was thrown from every office window, and embraces were exchanged by total strangers.

The reason he left college was that his health became impaired.

AnswersDavid Ortiz cleaned the room.We made mistakes.Bells rung, horns tooted, confetti

streamed from every office window, and total strangers exchanged embraces.

Failing health compelled him to leave college.