The Writing Brain
University of Exeter

The Passive Voice

The passive voice is a verb form that employs the verb “to be” unnecessarily.  The passive voice

consists of a form of the verb “to be” plus a helping verb that could be a verb in its own right.

It was (form of the verb to be) decided (the verb that could be a verb in its own right) that we would go to the party.

The passive voice almost always detracts from a sentence.  It

  • removes responsibility:
  • Mistakes were made.
  • destroys the power of the sentence:
  • Our rights have been stolen by the school administration.
  • makes sentences long, boring, and hard to follow
  • It can be said that others have been wrong where some might have been right.

The active voice consists of a verb that has somebody or something doing something:

We decided (the verb of doing) that we would go to the party.

The ACTIVE VOICE gives responsibility, makes the sentence more powerful, and makes it more exciting and easier to follow:

That guy over there made mistakes.

The school administration has stolen our rights.

One can say that those people made mistakes where some other people might have done things correctly.

The active voice gives your sentences precision, action and power.  The passive voice takes them away.

We are taught to use the passive voice in speech because it means no one will be insulted.  In writing, though, you want to be vivid and exciting, and the passive voice does just the opposite.  The passive voice is also often a sign of a reluctance to make firm statements:  the writer, consciously or unconsciously, is worried that her assertion is wrong, or might be wrong.  BUT the firmer you can make your assertion, the more believable it will be, and the better it will sound.  So the active voice is actually an asset.

Changing the passive voice to the active voice will be the single most noticeable positive change you will make to your writing.  It will make things sound better immediately.

Here is how you fix the passive voice.  We will use the following sample sentence:

This has often been argued by historians.

Start by finding the form of the verb to be and the verb that could be a verb in its own right.

This has often been (form of the verb to be) argued (the verb that could be a verb in its own right) by historians.

You know you don’t want the verb “to be,” so cross it out.  Now, is there anything that could be doing the verb that’s left?

This has often been (the verb that’s left) argued by historians (the thing that could be doing the verb that’s left).

Make that thing do the verb that’s left.

Historians have often argued this.

Now you have a nice active voice sentence.

This seems like a lot of work, I know.  That’s because it is a lot of work – at the beginning.  Relatively soon, though, you will be able to spot passive constructions (that’s what they’re called) quickly, and figure out how to make them active almost as quickly.

Sometimes, though, there is no one in the sentence who could be doing the verb that’s left.

Practical Solutions:

Remember the mantra “Make things do”

Don’t let things be done by things:  look for the constructions in which something is done by someone/something, and make them constructions in which someone/something does something.

If you can find your form of the verb to be and your helping verb, but you can’t find a possible subject, look towards the end of the sentence. The subject will often be hiding there, because in the passive construction the subject comes after the verb (the grammarian’s way to say this is that “the passive voice makes the subject the indirect object”).

If you simply can’t figure out how to change a sentence from passive to active, rewrite it in the active voice.

Be Aware of These:

The passive voice is the hardest thing to watch out for as you write. I STRONGLY suggest that you re-read your essays after you’re done, keeping a weather eye out for the passive voice and fixing it as necessary.

In some very rare cases, the passive voice actually works better (sometimes you want things to be done, rather than to have someone do them). You may find instances of this, but remember that they are very rare.

Although you will write in the active voice more and more often as you learn to spot the passive voice, you’ll probably never stop using the passive voice completely. So always be sure to check.

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