PASSIVE VOICE
■Identifying Passive Voice
The passive voice of a verb always consists of a form of the helping verb be plus the past
tense of the main verb: was told, are examined, has been broken. Although sometimes
appropriate, passive verbs are generally considered weak and wordy. Active voice is much
more effective and clear and is usually preferred.
S V
Active: Bill threw the ball to his son.
We know from reading this that Bill is the one who threw the ball. The person doing the action-
-Bill-- is the subject of the sentence. He is the agent doing the action of the verb. Passive
voice changes that direct action.
S V
Passive: The ball was thrown by Bill to his son.
■Drawbacks of Passive Voice
Notice that the basic information is the same. Passive voice may not change the meaning of
the sentence. But here the subject--the ball--is not doing the action. The ball is not throwing
anything; it is passively being thrown. Also notice how awkward the sentence is when we
stick Bill at the end, after the ball has been thrown? Not all passive voice is awkward. We can
make this sentence smoother and less wordy by eliminating some information.
Passive: The ball was thrown.
Smoother, maybe. But we’re missing the important parts of the sentence --Bill and his boy --
so we have to add a prepositional phrase (by Bill) to show who the agent was. One problem
with passive voice is that we end up with a sentence where nobody is doing what has been
done. Bureaucrats love this. They can announce actions without being responsible for them.
Passive: Tuition was raised. (Who raised it? Only the shadow knows.)
Passive: Permission has been denied. (By whom? Where do I complain?)
■Benefits of Passive Voice
Passive voice is appropriate when we don’t know who performed an action.
Passive: Tony was injured in a hit and run accident. (We don’t know who hit Tony.)
It’s also appropriate when we want to emphasize the deed rather than the doer.
Passive: Lisa was saved from serious injury by her seat belt.
If, however, I’m trying to pass a seat belt law, I’d emphasize the heroic seat belt.