Active and Passive Voice: Which Should You Choose?
Throughout my writing career, I have encountered many people who downright despise passive voice. Whenever they see it used, they wince and turn away as if passivity is some demon that will come after them. Are they right? Are there any instances where writers can successfully use passive voice? Let's find out!
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What is Passive Voice?
Some of you may be wondering: What is passive voice, anyway? Well, the answer is quite simple. Writers use passive voice when they create sentences that don't have a clear "actor." For example, "The turtle was hurt." Upon first glance, you may assume that the turtle is the actor in the previous sentence. However, the turtle is simply there. It is being acted upon rather than doing the acting. For there to be an actor in this sentence, we would need to know who or what hurt the turtle.
To test if a sentence is passive, you can search for state-of-being verbs or past participle verb phrases. State-of-being verbs, such as "is," "am," "are," "was," "were," "be," "being," and "been," mark a subject that simply is, rather than someone actively doing something. Additionally, past participle verb phrases, which consist of "had" and "was" followed by a past-tense verb, will usually make a sentence passive. Look at this sentence: "The man had been liked." Who or what liked the man? It's unclear. Thus, this sentence is passive.
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What is Active Voice?
You have probably guessed this by now, but active voice is the opposite of passive voice. In these sentences, there is a clear actor. Plus, the verbs in the sentence show action. I've rewritten the passive sentences from the previous section to show active voice. They read as follows:
1. The raccoon attacked the turtle.
2. The people of the city adored the man.
Do you see how these sentences changed? They now have actors—the raccoon and the people of the city. They also have action verbs—attacked and adored. As a result, I have successfully placed these sentences into active voice.
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When to Use Active Voice?
You should use active voice most of the time. It makes sentences more concise and interesting. Furthermore, the active voice makes sentences easier to picture by forcing writers to explain who or what is performing the action in their sentences. Therefore, it is usually the stronger choice. There are a few exceptions, however.
When to Use Passive Voice?
There are exactly two scenarios where we should use passive voice. The first is when our audience expects an objective point of view, which usually occurs in a scientific setting. By using passive voice, researchers can keep the important concepts in the foreground. We saw this a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, people often said, "The virus has been found to survive on surfaces for up to a few days." Would this sentence benefit from an actor? No. We didn't want people focusing on the scientist who discovered this. We wanted them to focus on the virus. As such, we chose to use passive voice.
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You should also use passive voice when you simply don't know who the actor of the sentence is. Speculation in this situation is not only rude, but it could result in legal consequences. Here's a scenario: A young girl, Angie, is walking down the street when she slips on a banana peel. Angie thinks her friend Justin placed the peel there as a prank, but she isn't certain. When writing about this incident, you could say, "Angie was pranked." You shouldn't say, "Justin pranked Angie." After all, you don't know for sure. It would be wrong to make assumptions.
Why It Matters
Although the active voice is usually the right decision, using it in the wrong scenario can get you into serious trouble. Making up scenarios can get you sued, after all. Plus, sometimes it's better to have a silent or invisible actor. Now that you know these two situations, you're better equipped to make the correct choice. Still, it's helpful to know that, in most cases, active is better.
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