Active vs. Passive Voice in writing
I’ll confess that I sometimes get tangled up in the ‘active vs. passive voice’ problem. That is to say, I start using the passive voice when I really mean to use the active. A large part of this stems from some slight confusion on my part about knowing the difference between the two. After doing some some hardcore research (i.e. Google), I found some simple explanations that have helped me, and I hope will help you as well.
You might ask why I’m covering an issue that most people learn in grade school. Well, it’s always good to freshen up on issues of grammar and style (in this case, style). Sometimes we tend to get ‘lazy’ and our writing suffers as a result. So put on your thinking caps and lets dive into the active and passive voice of writing!
The difference
Just knowing the difference between the active and passive voice is just about all you need to improve your own writing. And the difference is rather simple:
Active voice: The subject of the sentence is doing the action.
Passive voice: The subject of the sentence is being acted upon.
Pretty easy, huh? I thought so.
Examples
Here are two sentences, the first one is in the active voice, the second one is passive.
Active: Once a month, Billy washes the car.
Passive: Once a month, the car is washed by Billy.
Notice how the active voice is much more direct, and generally creates a much stronger sentence. While it is not technically incorrect to use the passive voice, its use should be limited because it can make your writing appear stifled and awkward.
There are, however, certain types of writing where the passive voice is more appropriate. This includes scientific and research papers, where one tries to avoid using personal pronouns. But even then, always using the passive voice is probably not a good idea.
In fiction, the active voice is the way to go. So the next time you’re proofreading that novel draft and the writing just doesn’t seem right, look at what ‘voice’ you are using and change some sentences around. It can make a big difference!
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