Summary
The passive voice occurs when the focus of a sentence is changed from the subject (the doer) to the object (receiver). This is the reverse of sentences in the active voice, where the focus of the sentence is the subject.
Active Voice: The raccoon stole my sandwich
Subject Verb Object
Passive Voice: My sandwich was stolen by the raccoon.
Object Verb Subject
In changing a sentence from active to passive, the subject is sometimes discarded:
Active Voice: The raccoon stole my sandwich
Subject Verb Object
Passive Voice: My sandwich was stolen.
Object Verb
What does it do to my writing?
The passive voice has a reputation of making your writing appear weak, so you will often be advised to avoid using it. In the following paragraph about Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, the passive voice is particularly ineffective:
In the first two lines of the passage, a metaphor comparing love and money is subtly achieved. A purse of money is offered to Viola by Olivia, but Viola declines it and says: “my master, not myself, lacks recompense”(1.5.275-8). Viola claims that she is “no fee’d post”, which is defined by Warren and Wells as a “hired messenger (wanting a tip)”. The love situation between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola is established through this metaphor.
The passive sentences in this paragraph fail because they create unnecessary focus (the purse of money is not as central to the sentence as Olivia who is doing the action) and weakness (passive verbs sound weak compared to active verbs). Active verbs are usually best to create action and movement in your writing, making it light and smooth to read. Rewritten in the active voice, the paragraph reads much more clearly:
The first two lines subtly achieve a metaphor comparing love and money. Olivia offers Viola, or Cesario, a purse of money but she declines it and says: “my master, not myself, lacks recompense”(1.5.275-8). Viola claims that she is “no fee’d post”, which Warren and Wells define as a “hired messenger (wanting a tip)”. This metaphor establishes the love situation between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola.
Does this mean that the passive voice should be avoided? No. It only means that the passive voice is not suitable for the sentences in that particular piece, which is an argument that needs the strength that the active voice affords. The passive voice detracts from writing when it is used where it does not necessarily need to be. In certain cases, the passive voice actually strengthens your writing because it allows you more flexibility in how your sentences are organized.
How do I use it properly?
1. For emphasis
Quick Use: Use the passive voice to bring attention to your object, especially when the subject is unknown or unimportant to the sentence.
As the passive voice can be used to shift the focus of a sentence, it is best to use it when you want to bring attention to your object, or when the subject is negligible or unknown:
The bacteria were kept at 80°F and timed for 20 minutes.
Object Verb Verb
This sentence, likely part of a lab report, is fitting because the reader of the piece cares about the bacteria and the results, not the doer of the action (the experimenter). Including the experimenter would only make the sentence slightly verbose:
The bacteria were kept at 80°F and timed for 20 minutes by the experimenters/by us.
Object Verb Verb Subject
2. To indicate lack of agency
Quick Use: Use the passive voice in narrative to show actions and to establish someone or something's helplessness.
In narrative writing, passive verbs can build the drama and feels of a sentence, which is a component of good narration.
The lances broke as they hit the shields.
Lances were broken and shields were shaken.
The passive voice, when deliberately used, can also show someone’s powerlessness:
They were overwhelmed by the enemy’s numbers.
3. To change a sentence’s rhythm
Quick Use: Use the passive voice in paragraphs to vary your rhythm (making your writing more interesting), but only when focusing on the object is appropriate to the sense of the idea.
As part of a larger piece of writing, like a paragraph, passives are useful firstly in switching up the rhythm of your writing. Active sentences are direct and strong, but too much of it can make your writing slightly tedious (just as having too much passive sentences together). Consider this piece of writing:
People remember Temujin, known to the world as Genghis Khan, for the ruthlessness with which he forged the largest contiguous empire in world history. Many might believe that the Mongols were destined to take over a large chunk of Eurasia because of their superior horsemanship and warrior culture. But what they might not be aware of is the struggle that Temujin faced uniting the tribes before looking outwards. He spent his earlier years subduing clans and forming alliances amid family tragedies – life then was dangerous and unpredictable.
While this writing is fine on its own, it could be improved with the passive voice. Thus,
Temujin, known to the world as Genghis Khan, is remembered for the ruthlessness with which he forged the largest contiguous empire in world history. Many might believe that the Mongols were destined to take over a large chunk of Eurasia because of their superior horsemanship and warrior culture. But what they might not be aware of is the struggle that Temujin faced uniting the tribes before looking outwards. His earlier years were spent subduing clans and forming alliances amid family tragedies – life then was dangerous and unpredictable.
Changing the first and last sentence of the piece to the passive voice adds a change of rhythm. But what is more, turning the first sentence into passive actually gives more prominence to the focus of the sentence: Temujin. In this case, the people doing the remembering are not as important as the figure being remembered.
For a case where the passive voice unnecessarily focuses on object, we might consider this example:
Hope picked up a pebble on the shore where she sat. The pebble was thrown into the water, and she watched the ripples expand and disappear into the clear face of the river. The ebbing of the water’s disturbance was followed by Hope. How quickly the water regained its composure – if only her mind could recover as swiftly. Her eyes lingered on that calm surface until they abruptly noticed another reflection beside her own. She looked at its source, and saw the friend that had come to see where she had disappeared to. Smiling, Hope sat down with her. Then for a while, she forgot her troubles.
In this paragraph, Hope is our main focus because we are following her actions. Bringing the focus to the pebble in the second sentence is unnecessary because the pebble is not as important as Hope throwing it into the water. Nor is the state of the water in the third sentence as central as Hope’s observation. By changing these two sentences to the active voice, we end up with a paragraph of active sentences. To switch up the rhythm, we may look for a spot where changing the sentence to passive does not take away focus from the key words of the sentence, as we can see in the last sentence of the paragraph:
Hope picked up a pebble on the shore where she sat. She threw the pebble into the water and watched the ripples expand and disappear into the clear face of the river. She followed the ebbing of the water’s disturbance. How quickly the water regained its composure – if only her mind could recover as swiftly. Her eyes lingered on that calm surface until they abruptly noticed another reflection beside her own. She looked at its source, and saw the friend that had come to see where she had disappeared to. Smiling, Hope sat down with her. Then for a while, her troubles were forgotten.
Therefore, when deciding to use the passive in a larger body of writing, make sure that in changing the rhythm, it does not unnecessarily focus on the object. Bottom line is: use the passive voice where it is meaningful.
