Active versus Passive Voice: Doing and Being Done To
In the active voice, the grammatical subject acts; in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon. Here are two examples:
Active:Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776.
Passive:The Wealth of Nations was written in 1776 by Adam Smith.
Even though sentences express the same information, they differ in their focus—one focuses on the author, while the other focuses on the book. When considering how to represent what happens in life, it’s important to be as precise as possible. The first, active voice sentence captures the action clearly: the subject performs the action and the direct object receives it, just as in real life. Whereas the passive voice sentence alters this relationship between the subject and direct object, changing the relationship so that the object then becomes the subject and the “doer” in real life becomes the object of a prepositional phrase.
There are three reasons to avoid using passive language:
- The passive voice sentence structure creates longer sentences.
- The relationship between the subject and the object are presented in the opposite way as in real life.
- It strips the performer of the responsibility of the action.
Nearly as important – active voice produces writing that is active and full of life and therefore more powerful.
At times, however, the passive voice is appropriate and even preferred. When the action’s doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious (e.g., because the doer has been previously mentioned), you can use the passive voice.
Active:Professor Larkins put all the students in his graduate tax class soundly to sleep.
Passive:All the students in the graduate tax class were put soundly to sleep.(Professor unknown)
Exercise 1 - Which of the following sentences use the active voice and which use the passive?
1)The pathways for approval of new undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs and changes to existing programs have been revised for 2013 as shown in the table below.
2)Parents should not let children walk a dog on their own, unless they are confident that the child can control the dog in any situation.
3)The application process for College Equity Scholarships for 2013 will be administered through the NSCC Admissions Center.
4)Meeting the needs of Seattle’s culturally and linguistically diverse community is also important to us.
5)The Citiplace Community Center provides a wide and varied range of activities and services for people over the age of 55 years and disability pension recipients.
Exercise 3 - These sentences all use passive voice. Which should be rewritten in the active voice and which can stay in the passive voice? Why?
1)The speed limit in a built-up area has been reduced to 50 miles per hour.
2)The region was heavily damaged in the Ash Wednesday bushfires.
3)More than 50 species have been recorded, including goannas, skinks, geckoes, dragons and snakes.
4)Rubbish is frequently dumped near the recycling bins.
5)Classes at the preschool on the island are taught in English and the local language.