Understanding the difference between the "Active": and "Passive" voice
As budding writers, we often get
caught up in a grammatical quagmire while trying to decide between the
"Active": and "Passive" voice when writing copy. The rule of thumb, is
that the active voice is always better...
The Subject Is Doing The Action
When we are using the "Active" voice, it simply means having the
subject of the sentence do all the acting. For example: Richard fitted
two separate speakers, so the sound could be alternated between the
dining-room and the patio. In this sentence "Richard" is being the
subject, The action he performed is “fitted” and “speakers” is the
object in the sentence, describing what Richard has fitted. Another
example would be: Paul hit a home run the second time at bat. In this
sentence "Paul", the subject, did the "hit", the action.
Using The ":Active" Voice
When we use the "Passive" voice, the subject of the sentence is not
acting. A plain example: The door is being closed by me. In this
scenario, the "door" is the subject but the action “closed” is being
done by me. While this sentence is grammatically correct, it is
difficult for most average people to understand. Regardless of who your
targeted audience is, making use of the "Active" voice is always
better. Most grammar-checkers can be set to highlight sentences using
the "Passive" voice.
When To Use The "Passive" Voice
There certainly are times when a writer has to use the passive voice.
These instances, will be, for example, when the writer does not know
who or what is doing or did the action. For instance, a crime journalist
may write that the woman's dead body was found around 2 am., Saturday
morning. The writer does not know how the woman had died, all he knows
is that she was found on Saturday morning around 2 am. The rule is not
to use the "Passive" voice unless it is categorically unavoidable.
By Tranquilpen, 28th Nov 2012 | Follow this author
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