Lunch and Learn Writing2

Using Active and Passive

Voice
Rebecca Elswick
Writing Specialist
What is Voice
 In English grammar, verbs have five
properties: voice, mood, tense, person,
and number.
 The relationship between the subject of
the sentence and the verb is called
voice.
 Voice is the form a verb takes to indicate
whether the subject of the verb performs
or receives the action.
 The two grammatical voices are active
and passive.
 Active Voice
Active voice is used to show that the subject of
the sentence is performing or causing the action.
Because the subject does or "acts upon" the
verb in such sentences, the sentences are said
to be in the active voice.

Example:
The cow jumped over the moon.
Cow is the subject of the sentence. Jumped is
the verb.
The subject (cow)is performing the action
(jumped). Therefore the verb is in active voice.
 Passive Voice
Passive voice is used when the subject is the
recipient of the action. One can change the
normal word order of many active sentences
(those with a direct object) so that the subject is
no longer active, but is, instead, being acted
upon by the verb - or passive.

Example:
The moon was jumped over by the cow.
Moon is the subject. Was jumped is the verb.
Cow is the object.
Moon (subject) is being acted up by cow the
(object).
Passive Voice
The Passive voice is used in English:
(a) To stress the action done rather than the doer of the
action.
(b) If the doer is unknown.
(c) When it is more convenient.
 Because passive voice sentences necessarily add
words and change the normal doer-action-receiver of
action direction, they may make the reader work
harder to understand the intended meaning.
 As the examples below illustrate, a sentence in active
voice flows more smoothly and is easier to understand
than the same sentence in passive voice.

 Why does it matter?
 STRONG WRITING USES ACTIVE VOICE
 Active voice is more direct. Compare the following: Active:
The waiter dropped the tray of food. Passive: The tray of
food was dropped by the waiter.
 The active voice is less awkward and clearly states
relationship between subject and action. Compare the
following: Passive: Your request for funding has been denied
by the review committee. Active: The review committee
denied your request for funding.
 The active voice sentence pattern propels the reader forward
through your writing, thus avoiding weak prose.
Writing in Passive Voice – The Verb “To be”
What are the forms of “to be”?
The Passive Voice Can Create Ambiguity

According to Plain English for Lawyers,

 No matter what the verb tense – past, present, future,

or something more complicated – the key difference
between the active and passive voice remains the
same: in the active voice, the subject of the sentence
does the acting, but in the passive voice, the subject
of the sentence is acted upon.
 The passive voice takes more words than the active
voice, but that is not the only disadvantage. The
passive voice can be ambiguous. With the active
voice, you can usually tell who is doing what to whom.
With the passive voice, however, the writer can hide
the identify of the actor. That construction is called
“truncated passive.” For example, A kicking action
was accomplished. This hides the kicker and the
kickee. (30)
The truncated passive can be especially
troublesome in legal writing.
Consider this patent license agreement:
 All improvements of the patented invention that are
made hereafter shall promptly be disclosed, and
failure to do so shall be deemed a material breach of
this license agreement.
 Who must disclose improvements to whom?
 Must the licensor disclose improvements it makes to
the licensee?
 Must the license disclose improvements it makes to the
other party?
 If it ever becomes important to know, the parties will
probably have to slug it out in a lawsuit, all because of
the truncated passive voice. (31)
When to use Passive Voice
 In general, the passive voice is less direct, less forceful,
and less concise than the active voice.
 Use the passive voice in the following situations: Use
passive voice when you do not know or do not want
to reveal the performer of an action. Use passive
voice when you want to emphasize the receiver of an
action.
 Examples: Awkward Passive: My bicycle was
repainted by John. Deliberate Passive: My bicycle
was repainted. (The performer is not mentioned and
the emphasis is on the bicycle.)
 Form of Passive Voice Verbs: The passive voice
requires a "double verb" and will always consist of a
form of the verb "to be" and the past participle
(usually the "en/ed/t/ing" form) of another verb.
 Example: Active: John baked the bread. Passive: The
bread was baked by John. (Was is a form of the verb
“be”.)
 When intentionally trying to hide the subject of the sentence.
A classic example is President Ronald Reagan’s quote, “Mistakes
were made.”
Does hiding the subject help him hide the blame?
 When intentionally trying to minimize the guilt of the subject.
If you are appealing a bad evidentiary ruling, you might say,
“Judge Gunther admitted the hearsay evidence over trial
counsel’s objection.” Yet, if you are appearing before Judge
Gunther on a motion to reconsider his erroneous ruling, it may be
advantageous to be less aggressive in your phrasing. A passive
version of the same allegation would be, “The hearsay evidence
was admitted over trial counsel’s objection.” Using the passive
voice decreases the likelihood that Judge Gunther will feel
personally attacked.
 When passive voice better emphasizes the main point of the
message, such as “Children were harmed by the drunk driver.”
 You may also find passive voice useful when you do not know
who performed a particular action. The sentence, “A shot was
fired,” allows you to include the critical detail of a shot being
fired, even if you don’t know who fired it.
 Let’s Practice
Find the verbs in the following passage.
Identify them as active or passive.
On June 30th of last year, the new sex offender registration statute
went into effect. It required George Longbottom to register within
30 days, and Longbottom did so on July 15th.

On July 30th, Longbottom was arrested by Police Lt. Smith.

Longbottom was arrested for failing to “update” his sex offender
registration between July 17th and July 22nd, as the registration
statute requires. The registration statute makes failure to update
an independent felony.

At his trial before a judge, Longbottom’s counsel argued that

Longbottom did not need to “update” his registration, because
nothing had changed in the few days since his registration on
July 15th. The trial judge rejected that argument and found
Longbottom guilty.
 Let’s Practice

 Directions: Change the sentences below to the

active voice.
1. The statue is being visited by hundreds of tourists
every year.
2. My books were stolen by someone yesterday.
3. These books had been left in the classroom by a
careless student.
4. Coffee is raised in many parts of Hawaii by
plantation workers.
5. The house had been broken into by someone
while the owners were on vacation.
Active v. Passive
 Courts and attorneys generally prefer active
sentences to passive sentences in legal writing.
 Passive voice does have its place, but active voice
makes legal writing clearer, stronger, and more brief.
 Passive sentences may be helpful in preventing
repetitive sentence structures. Starting multiple
sentences with the same subject may be awkward. If
the subject is obvious, including an occasional passive
sentence may make your writing flow better.
 Passive sentences are not grammatically incorrect, as
some argue. The best legal writers use the passive
voice selectively to create specific, intended results.
Works Cited

Wydick, R. C. Plain English for Lawyers. Fifth edition.

California Academic Press. 2005.