Passive and Active Voice
PROGRAM: IN A WORD
EPISODE: PASSIVE AND ACTIVE VOICE
[5 to 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Mary Beth Schaefer with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Today I’ll discuss the different uses of passive and active voice. Growing up, you might have had teachers tell you to write in active voice, rather than passive voice. The active voice emphasizes the main actor (or subject) in the sentence by placing it before the main action. For example: “Zach kicked the ball.”
The actor (Zach) comes before the action (kicked). In the passive voice, either the action comes before the actor, or the actor is not mentioned in the sentence at all. The actor might be unknown or unimportant. Here is the same sentence in the passive voice: “The ball was kicked by Zach.” Or, simply: “The ball was kicked.”
Keep in mind that the passive voice is grammatically correct. In fact, it’s common in contexts where the emphasis is on the action, not the actor. For instance, the passive voice is often preferred in scientific writing. Here’s an example of a sentence that you might come across in a scientific paper: “The temperature of the solution was read three times each day.” Who was reading the temperature of the solution? We don’t know because, in this context, whoever read the temperature isn’t important. It’s the action that matters.
In the sciences, it is especially important to be, or at least strive to be, objective when doing research. To convey this objectivity in writing, we often use passive voice. But passive voice has a bad reputation because it can be wordier and less direct than active voice. Let’s look at the same sentence in the active voice: “I read the temperature of the solution three times each day.” Now, not only do we know who the actor is, but the verb is pushed closer to the beginning of the sentence. It’s also no longer accompanied by the helping verb “was.” The actor and action are, therefore, more direct. But does putting this sentence in the active voice make it somehow better? Not necessarily—but the change affects the emphasis of different parts of the sentence and alters the overall rhetorical effect.
So where else do we come across passive voice? Sometimes we use passive voice to avoid taking responsibility or assigning blame to someone for something negative. You might have heard politicians, for instance, say, “Mistakes were made.” So, who made the mistakes? In this case, using passive voice is a tactical move that allows the writer or speaker to relinquish accountability.
But like I said earlier, passive voice can sometimes be wordier than active voice. So when writing or editing for conciseness, you might try identifying places where you can change passive voice to active voice. For example, find a sentence in which the actor appears, but not until after the verb: “Other parallels were drawn between letters to the editor and reader comments by Smith et al.” By making this sentence active, we lose the words “were” and “by.” “Smith et al. drew other parallels between letters to the editor and reader comments.” The emphasis also shifts to the researchers who conducted the research, not just the research itself.
So when deciding between active and passive voice, be aware of the conventions in your discipline, and consider what you want your reader to focus on, the actor or the action?
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Mary Beth Schaefer, helping you make every word count.
[5 to 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
EPISODE: PASSIVE AND ACTIVE VOICE
[5 to 10 SEC OF MUSIC]
[FADE MUSIC]
I’m Mary Beth Schaefer with “In a Word,” your weekly communication tip.
Today I’ll discuss the different uses of passive and active voice. Growing up, you might have had teachers tell you to write in active voice, rather than passive voice. The active voice emphasizes the main actor (or subject) in the sentence by placing it before the main action. For example: “Zach kicked the ball.”
The actor (Zach) comes before the action (kicked). In the passive voice, either the action comes before the actor, or the actor is not mentioned in the sentence at all. The actor might be unknown or unimportant. Here is the same sentence in the passive voice: “The ball was kicked by Zach.” Or, simply: “The ball was kicked.”
Keep in mind that the passive voice is grammatically correct. In fact, it’s common in contexts where the emphasis is on the action, not the actor. For instance, the passive voice is often preferred in scientific writing. Here’s an example of a sentence that you might come across in a scientific paper: “The temperature of the solution was read three times each day.” Who was reading the temperature of the solution? We don’t know because, in this context, whoever read the temperature isn’t important. It’s the action that matters.
In the sciences, it is especially important to be, or at least strive to be, objective when doing research. To convey this objectivity in writing, we often use passive voice. But passive voice has a bad reputation because it can be wordier and less direct than active voice. Let’s look at the same sentence in the active voice: “I read the temperature of the solution three times each day.” Now, not only do we know who the actor is, but the verb is pushed closer to the beginning of the sentence. It’s also no longer accompanied by the helping verb “was.” The actor and action are, therefore, more direct. But does putting this sentence in the active voice make it somehow better? Not necessarily—but the change affects the emphasis of different parts of the sentence and alters the overall rhetorical effect.
So where else do we come across passive voice? Sometimes we use passive voice to avoid taking responsibility or assigning blame to someone for something negative. You might have heard politicians, for instance, say, “Mistakes were made.” So, who made the mistakes? In this case, using passive voice is a tactical move that allows the writer or speaker to relinquish accountability.
But like I said earlier, passive voice can sometimes be wordier than active voice. So when writing or editing for conciseness, you might try identifying places where you can change passive voice to active voice. For example, find a sentence in which the actor appears, but not until after the verb: “Other parallels were drawn between letters to the editor and reader comments by Smith et al.” By making this sentence active, we lose the words “were” and “by.” “Smith et al. drew other parallels between letters to the editor and reader comments.” The emphasis also shifts to the researchers who conducted the research, not just the research itself.
So when deciding between active and passive voice, be aware of the conventions in your discipline, and consider what you want your reader to focus on, the actor or the action?
This has been “In a Word,” a program made possible by the Texas A&M University Writing Center and a production of KAMU FM on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. For more writing and speaking tips, visit our website at writingcenter.tamu.edu. I’m Mary Beth Schaefer, helping you make every word count.
[5 to 10 SEC OF MUSIC]