I love the formality of this entry in the American Heritage Book of English Usage. Unfortunately, very few people will read such entries, much less apply them to their writing, and I have to disagree with the main thrust of the article, which is that passive voice is useful. Passive voice can be used to disguise the agent of action in a sentence. Therefore, when I notice extensive use of passive voice in an article, I start to wonder how much the author doesn't know. For example, "The fine was assessed..." instead of "The board assessed a fine..." Writers often use passive voice to try to soften the blow of bad news. This approach usually doesn't work, but we still try it.
What is passive voice? It's a deadening of language in which sentences are robbed of their core actors. "It has been determined that..." rather than "I decided..." Passive voice is using a phrase with a form of the verb "to be" in it when "to be" is not needed.
What are the main forms of "to be"? "am/is/was/were/are/have been/has been/had been"
Why is it bad to use "to be"? Because the verb is so common that it makes writing dull, and because it creates the impression of hiding something or of not telling the full truth.
Passive voice can be used sparingly, but it should not dominate a passage or an entire essay.
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I chose "exercising demons" to point out how easy it is for writers to be misunderstood when they aren't careful with their words. I aim to exorcise some writing demons of my own and help others proofread better by offering advice on this site. See the first post, dated Feb. 2, 2007, for a full discussion of the difference between "exercise" and "exorcise."
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2 comments:
You mention a few reasons to use passive voice which seem logical...yet, as you state, hardly is it ever useful. I wonder why passive voice even exists in the first place?
I'm reading up on that a little bit right now...a book on the history of the English language...I'll let you know if I find anything out.
Someone invented passive voice to make English even more flexible in how it represents the truth. It's a tool, like many other language tools, that is disagreeable simply because it is overused. Have you ever been annoyed by a word that gets used over and over again, something like "ginormous" or some other trendy word? If so, then you know what I'm talking about.
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