Is it wrong to use the passive voice?
Have you noticed how the spelling and grammar check on your computer flags every use of the passive voice as an error and prompts you to change to the use of the active voice? By now you are beginning to wonder if you can ever use the passive voice.
If we are not encouraged to use the passive voice, then why is there a passive voice? First let’s explain what is the passive voice.
What is the passive voice?
Usually in a sentence the subject performs the action to the object. This is the active voice.
Active Voice: Tom threw the ball. (The subject “Tom’ performs the action.)
When the action is performed upon the subject, this is the use of the passive voice.
Passive Voice: The ball was thrown by Tom. (The action is done to the subject “ball”.)
Look at the two examples again and you will see that the object of the sentence in the active voice becomes the subject of the sentence written in the passive voice. “Ball “ is the object of the active sentence and in the passive sentence “ball” becomes the subject.
Common reasons to use the passive voice
1. Use the passive voice for emphasis
You can use the passive voice when it is more important to emphasise an action or the object of the action rather than the agent of the action.
- The streetlights have to be replaced.
Here you want the emphasis on the state of the streetlights rather than on who is responsible for replacing them. You want to show that the streetlights are not functioning.
- Large boulders were brought down by the ghaut.
If you want to focus on the size and type of material brought down by the ghaut you make that the subject of the sentence by using the passive voice.
2. You can use the passive voice for business communication
In business correspondence some types of writing are formal and are usually expressed in the passive voice. Examples of these are notices of meetings, notices of auctions and notices giving information to the general public.
Example:
Notice is hereby given that the thirty-second Annual General Meeting of Tora Co. Ltd will be held at Kranfour located on Garrough’s Main Road, on Wednesday July 24, 2019 at 5:00 p.m.
3. The passive voice is used in cases of evasion of responsibility
The passive voice is also used when the writer does not want to say who did the action. A famous passive expression is, “Mistakes were made.” This is a deliberate use of the passive voice to avoid identifying who is responsible for the mistakes. It is used when someone wants to avoid taking the responsibility for an action or decision.
In one example President Reagan said “mistakes were made” when his administration sold arms to Iran and used the money to help finance rebels in Nicaragua. This use of the passive voice is sometimes adopted by politicians or persons with positions of responsibility in important organisations.
4. When making a general statement you can use the passive voice
The passive voice can be used to express a common knowledge or if the author of a saying is unknown.
Example: Love is said to be all-forgiving.
5. When you do not know who is doing the action:
- My bike was stolen from my driveway.
or when it is not important to know the agent:
- I’m not staying at this hotel. I was offered a room elsewhere.
6. When the agent of the action can be determined from the context of the sentence:
- I was asked to count the number of participants attending the workshop.
- The flight was overbooked and some passengers were being encouraged to give up their seats.
7. When making a promise or assurance.
- Your identity will be kept a secret.
The use of the passive is not a grammatical error contrary to the grammar checker of your computer. The passive voice has its uses.