Passive Voice

Try not to overuse the passive voice, particularly in formal writing.



Thepassive voice refers to the subject receiving the action; the active voice refers to the subject doing the action. While the passive voice is perfectly acceptable in formal writing, it may not effectively persuade the reader. In modern society, people are often convinced by facts; the active voice sounds more like a fact, or a certainty.



Incorrect: Rules are often broken by rebellious teenagers.

Grammatically, this sentence is correct; however, it is more forceful to use the active voice: Rebellious teenagers often break rules.



Incorrect: It has been demonstrated by scientists that smoking causes cancer.

This sentence is more convincing if written in the active voice: Scientists have demonstrated that smoking causes cancer.



N.B.

The passive voice should be used in cases where the information is unknown, irrelevant, or should not be mentioned (i.e. when being subtle). It is also used when writing in an impersonal manner to avoid use of pronouns.



Correct: The bowl was broken in the scuffle.

This sentence could replace an accusative sentence, such as “She broke the bowl!”



Use of the passive voice may also put the emphasis where it is most needed:

Correct: It is thought that Shakespeare may have been a group of writers rather than a single author.

Simple Past Instead of Past Participle

Ensure you use the proper verb form when using the passive voice; the past participle should be used.



The passive voice will have at least two verbs – usually a form of “to have” or “to be” followed by the past participle. The past participle is used like an adjective, so it doesn’t matter what tense the sentence is in. Frequently, this error is made because a verb has an irregular past participle; you can find the past participle in a dictionary or grammar book.



Incorrect: Last night, I was woke by the storm.

“Woke” is the simple past form of “to wake”. The past participle is “woken”. The sentence should be written: Last night, I was woken by the storm.



Incorrect: The two smaller companies are being took over by the larger company.

The simple past form “took” should be changed to “taken”.



Incorrect: The paper had been wrote by a friend of the student.

The past perfect tense requires the final verb to use the past participle: “wrote” should be changed to “written”.



Incorrect: If we sing the song once more, we will have sang the song 100 times!

“Sang” should be changed to “sung”.

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