Passive Voice
What
this handout is about
This handout will help you
understand what the passive voice is, why many professors and writing
instructors frown upon it, and how you can revise your paper to achieve greater
clarity. Some things here may surprise you. We hope this handout will help you
to understand the passive voice and allow you to make more informed choices as
you write.
Myths
So what is the passive voice? First,
let’s be clear on what the passive voice isn’t. Below, we’ll list some common
myths about the passive voice:
1.
Use of the passive voice constitutes a grammatical error.
Use of the passive voice is not a
grammatical error. It’s a stylistic issue that pertains to clarity—that is,
there are times when using the passive voice can prevent a reader from
understanding what you mean.
2.
Any use of “to be” (in any form) constitutes the passive voice.
The passive voice entails more than
just using a being verb. Using “to be” can weaken the impact of your writing,
but it is occasionally necessary and does not by itself constitute the
passive voice.
3.
The passive voice always avoids the first person; if something is in first
person (“I” or “we”) it’s also in the active voice.
On the contrary, you can very easily
use the passive voice in the first person. Here’s an example: “I was hit by the
dodgeball.”
4.
You should never use the passive voice.
While the passive voice can weaken
the clarity of your writing, there are times when the passive voice is OK and
even preferable.
5.
I can rely on my grammar checker to catch the passive voice.
See Myth #1. Since the passive voice
isn’t a grammar error, it’s not always caught. Typically, grammar checkers
catch only a fraction of passive voice usage.
Do any of these misunderstandings
sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. That’s why we wrote this handout. It
discusses how to recognize the passive voice, when you should avoid it, and
when it’s OK.
Defining
the passive voice
A passive construction occurs when
you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is,
whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of
the sentence. Take a look at this passive rephrasing of a familiar joke:
Why
was the road crossed by the chicken?
Who is doing the action in this
sentence? The chicken is the one doing the action in this sentence, but
the chicken is not in the spot where you would expect the grammatical subject
to be. Instead, the road is the grammatical subject. The more familiar phrasing
(why did the chicken cross the road?) puts the actor in the subject position,
the position of doing something—the chicken (the actor/doer) crosses the road
(the object). We use active verbs to represent that “doing,” whether it be
crossing roads, proposing ideas, making arguments, or invading houses (more on
that shortly).
Once you know what to look for,
passive constructions are easy to spot. Look for a form of “to be” (is, are,
am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being)
followed by a past participle. (The past participle is a form of the verb that
typically, but not always, ends in “-ed.” Some exceptions to the “-ed” rule are
words like “paid” (not “payed”) and “driven.” (not “drived”). Here’s a
sure-fire formula for identifying the passive voice:
form
of “to be” + past participle = passive voice
For example:
The metropolis has been scorched by
the dragon’s fiery breath.
When her house was invaded, Penelope
had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
Not every sentence that contains a
form of “have” or “be” is passive!
Forms of the word “have” can do several different things in English. For
example, in the sentence “John has to study all afternoon,” “has” is not part
of a past-tense verb. It’s a modal verb, like “must,” “can,” or “may”—these
verbs tell how necessary it is to do something (compare “I have to study”
versus “I may study”). And forms of “be” are not always passive, either—”be”
can be the main verb of a sentence that describes a state of being, rather than
an action. For example, the sentence “John is a good student” is not passive;
“is” is simply describing John’s state of being. The moral of the story: don’t
assume that any time you see a form of “have” and a form of “to be” together,
you are looking at a passive sentence.
Need more help deciding whether a
sentence is passive? Ask yourself whether there is an action going on in the
sentence. If so, what is at the front of the sentence? Is it the person or
thing that does the action? Or is it the person or thing that has the action
done to it? In a passive sentence, the object of the action will be in the
subject position at the front of the sentence. As discussed above, the sentence
will also contain a form of be and a past participle. If the subject appears at
all, it will usually be at the end of the sentence, often in a phrase that
starts with “by.” Take a look at this example:
The fish was caught by the seagull.
If we ask ourselves whether there’s
an action, the answer is yes: a fish is being caught. If we ask what’s at the
front of the sentece, the actor or the object of the action, it’s the object:
the fish, unfortunately for it, got caught, and there it is at the front of the
sentence. The thing that did the catching—the seagull—is at the end, after
“by.” There’s a form of be (was) and a past participle (caught). This sentence
is passive.
Let’s briefly look at how to change
passive constructions into active ones. You can usually just switch the word
order, making the actor and subject one by putting the actor up front:
The metropolis has been scorched by
the dragon’s fiery breath.
becomes
The dragon scorched the metropolis
with his fiery breath.
When her house was invaded, Penelope
had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
becomes
After suitors invaded her house,
Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
To repeat, the key to identifying
the passive voice is to look for both a form of “to be” and a
past participle, which usually, but not always, ends in “-ed.”
Clarity
and meaning
The primary reason why your
instructors frown on the passive voice is that they often have to guess what
you mean. Sometimes, the confusion is minor. Let’s look again at that sentence
from a student’s paper on Homer’s The Odyssey:
When her house was invaded, Penelope
had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
Like many passive constructions,
this sentence lacks explicit reference to the actor—it doesn’t tell the reader who
or what invaded Penelope’s house. The active voice clarifies things:
After suitors invaded
Penelope’s house, she had to think of ways to fend them off.
Thus many instructors—the readers
making sense of your writing—prefer that you use the active voice. They want
you to specify who or what is doing the action. Compare the following two examples
from an anthropology paper on a Laotian village to see if you agree.
(passive) A new system of drug
control laws was set up. (By whom?)
(active) The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party set up a new system of drug control laws.
(active) The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party set up a new system of drug control laws.
Here’s another example, from the
same paper, that illustrates the lack of precision that can accompany the
passive voice:
Gender training was conducted in six
villages, thus affecting social relationships.
And a few pages later:
Plus, marketing links were being
established.
In both paragraphs, the writer never
specifies the actors for those two actions (Who did the gender training?
Who established marketing links?). Thus the reader has trouble
appreciating the dynamics of these social interactions, which depend upon the
actors conducting and establishing these things.
The following example, once again
from that paper on The Odyssey, typifies another instance where an
instructor might desire more precision and clarity:
Although Penelope shares heroic
characteristics with her husband, Odysseus, she
is not considered a hero.
is not considered a hero.
Who does not consider Penelope a hero? It’s difficult to tell,
but the rest of that paragraph suggests that the student does not
consider Penelope a hero (the topic of the paper). The reader might also
conceivably think that the student is referring to critics, scholars, or modern
readers of The Odyssey. One might argue that the meaning comes through
here—the problem is merely stylistic. Yet style affects how your reader
understands your argument and content. Awkward or unclear style prevents your
reader from appreciating the ideas that are so clear to you when you
write. Thus knowing how your reader might react enables you to make more
effective choices when you revise. So after you identify instances of the
passive, you should consider whether your use of the passive inhibits clear
understanding of what you mean.
Summarizing
history or literary plots with the passive voice: don’t be a lazy thinker or
writer!
With the previous section in mind,
you should also know that some instructors proclaim that the passive voice
signals sloppy, lazy thinking. These instructors argue that writers who overuse
the passive voice have not fully thought through what they are discussing and
that this makes for imprecise arguments. Consider these sentences from papers
on American history:
The working class was marginalized.
African Americans were discriminated against.
Women were not treated as equals.
African Americans were discriminated against.
Women were not treated as equals.
Such sentences lack the precision
and connection to context and causes that mark rigorous thinking. The reader
learns little about the systems, conditions, human decisions, and
contradictions that produced these groups’ experiences of oppression. And so
the reader—the instructor—questions the writer’s understanding of these things.
It is especially important to be
sure that your thesis statement is clear and precise, so think twice before
using the passive voice in your thesis.
In papers where you discuss the work
of an author—e.g., a historian or writer of literature—you can also strengthen
your writing by not relying on the passive as a crutch when summarizing plots
or arguments. Instead of writing
It is argued that…
or Tom and Huck are portrayed as…
or And then the link between X and Y is made, showing that…
or Tom and Huck are portrayed as…
or And then the link between X and Y is made, showing that…
you can heighten the level of your
analysis by explicitly connecting an author with these statements:
Anderson argues that…
Twain portrays Tom and Huck as…
Ishiguro draws a link between X and Y to show that…
Twain portrays Tom and Huck as…
Ishiguro draws a link between X and Y to show that…
By avoiding passive constructions in
these situations, you can demonstrate a more thorough understanding of the
material you discuss.
Scientific
writing
All this advice works for papers in
the humanities, you might note—but what about technical or scientific papers,
including lab reports? Many instructors recommend or even require the passive
voice in such writing. The rationale for using the passive voice in scientific
writing is that it achieves “an objective tone”—for example, by avoiding the
first person. To consider scientific writing, let’s break it up into two main
types: lab reports and writing about a scientific topic or literature.
Lab reports
Although more and more scientific
journals accept or even prefer first-person active voice (e.g., “then we
sequenced the human genome”), some of your instructors may want you to remove
yourself from your lab report by using the passive voice (e.g., “then the human
genome was sequenced” rather than “then we sequenced the human genome”). Such
advice particularly applies to the section on Materials and Methods, where a
procedure “is followed.” (For a fuller discussion on writing lab reports, see
our handout on writing lab reports.)
While you might employ the passive
voice to retain objectivity, you can still use active constructions in some
instances and retain your objective stance. Thus it’s useful to keep in mind
the sort of active verbs you might use in lab reports. Examples include:
support, indicate, suggest, correspond, challenge, yield, show.
Thus instead of writing
A number of things are indicated by these results.
A number of things are indicated by these results.
you could write
These results indicate a number of things.
or Further analysis showed/suggested/yielded…
These results indicate a number of things.
or Further analysis showed/suggested/yielded…
Ultimately, you should find out your
instructor’s preference regarding your use of the passive in lab reports.
Writing about scientific topics
In some assignments, rather than
reporting the results of your own scientific work, you will be writing about
the work of other scientists. Such assignments might include literature reviews
and research reports on scientific topics. You have two main possible tasks in
these assignments: reporting what other people have done (their research or
experiments) or indicating general scientific knowledge (the body of knowledge
coming out of others’ research). Often the two go together. In both instances,
you can easily use active constructions even though you might be tempted by the
passive—especially if you’re used to writing your own lab reports in the
passive.
You decide: Which of these two
examples is clearer?
Heart disease is considered the
leading cause of death in the United States.
(passive)
or Research points to heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States.(active)
or Research points to heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States.(active)
Alternatively, you could write this
sentence with human actors:
Researchers have concluded that
heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
The last two sentences illustrate a
relationship that the first one lacks. The first example does not tell who or
what leads us to accept this conclusion about heart disease.
Here’s one last example from a
report that describes angioplasty. Which sounds better to you?
The balloon is positioned in an area
of blockage and is inflated.
or The surgeon positions the balloon in an area of blockage and inflates it.
or The surgeon positions the balloon in an area of blockage and inflates it.
You can improve your scientific
writing by relying less on the passive. The advice we’ve given for papers on
history or literature equally applies to papers in more “scientific” courses.
No matter what field you’re writing in, when you use the passive voice, you
risk conveying to your reader a sense of uncertainty and imprecision regarding
your writing and thinking. The key is to know when your instructor wants you to
use the passive voice. For a more general discussion of writing in the sciences, see our handout.
“Swindles
and perversions”
Before we discuss a few instances
when the passive might be preferable, we should mention one of the more
political uses of the passive: to hide blame or obscure responsibility. You
wouldn’t do this, but you can learn how to become a critic of those who exhibit
what George Orwell included among the “swindles and perversions” of writing.
For example:
Mistakes were made.
The Exxon Company accepts that a few
gallons might have been spilled.
By becoming critically aware of how
others use language to shape clarity and meaning, you can learn how better to
revise your own work. Keep Orwell’s swindles and perversions in mind as you
read other writers. Because it’s easy to leave the actor out of passive
sentences, some people use the passive voice to avoid mentioning who is
responsible for certain actions.
So
when is it OK to use the passive?
Sometimes the passive voice is the
best choice. Here are a few instances when the passive voice is quite useful:
1. To emphasize an object.Take a look at this example:
100 votes are required to pass the
bill.
This passive sentence emphasizes the
number of votes required. An active version of the sentence (“The bill requires
100 votes to pass”) would put the emphasis on the bill, which may be less
dramatic.
2. To de-emphasize an unknown
subject/actor. Consider this example:
Over 120 different contaminants have
been dumped into the river.
If you don’t know who the actor
is—in this case, if you don’t actually know who dumped all of those
contaminants in the river—then you may need to write in the passive. But
remember, if you do know the actor, and if the clarity and meaning of your
writing would benefit from indicating him/her/it/them, then use an active
construction. Yet consider the third case.
3. If your readers don’t need to
know who’s responsible for the action.
Here’s where your choice can be
difficult; some instances are less clear than others. Try to put yourself in
your reader’s position to anticipate how he/she will react to the way you have
phrased your thoughts. Here are two examples:
Baby Sophia was delivered at 3:30
a.m. yesterday.(passive)
and
Dr. Susan Jones delivered baby
Sophia at 3:30 a.m. yesterday.(active)
The first sentence might be more
appropriate in a birth announcement sent to family and friends—they are not
likely to know Dr. Jones and are much more interested in the “object”(the baby)
than in the actor (the doctor). A hospital report of yesterday’s events might
be more likely to focus on Dr. Jones’ role.
Summary
of strategies
Identify
- Look for the passive voice: “to be” + a past participle
(usually, but not always, ending in “-ed”)
- If you don’t see both components, move on.
- Does the sentence describe an action? If so, where is
the actor? Is he/she/it in the grammatical subject position (at the front
of the sentence) or in the object position (at the end of the sentence, or
missing entirely)?
- Does the sentence end with “by…”? Many passive
sentences include the actor at the end of the sentence in a “by” phrase,
like “The ball was hit by the player” or “The shoe was chewed up by
the dog.” “By” by itself isn’t a conclusive sign of the passive voice,
but it can prompt you to take a closer look.
Evaluate
- Is the doer/actor indicated? Should you indicate
him/her/it?
- Does it really matter who’s responsible for the action?
- Would your reader ask you to clarify a sentence because
of an issue related to your use of the passive?
- Do you use a passive construction in your thesis
statement?
- Do you use the passive as a crutch in summarizing a
plot or history, or in describing something?
- Do you want to emphasize the object?
Revise
- If you decide that your sentence would be clearer in
the active voice, switch the sentence around to make the subject and actor
one. Put the actor (the one doing the action of the sentence) in front of
the verb.
Towards
active thinking and writing
We encourage you to keep these tips
in mind as you revise. While you may be able to employ this advice as you write
your first draft, that’s not necessarily always possible. In writing, clarity
often comes when you revise, not on your first try. Don’t worry about the
passive if that stress inhibits you in getting your ideas down on paper. But do
look for it when you revise. Actively make choices about its proper place in
your writing. There is nothing grammatically or otherwise “wrong” about using
the passive voice. The key is to recognize when you should, when you shouldn’t,
and when your instructor just doesn’t want you to. These choices are yours. We
hope this handout helps you to make them.
Works
consulted and suggested reading
We consulted these works while
writing the original version of this handout. This is not a comprehensive list
of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own
research to find the latest publications on this topic. Please do not use this
list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match
the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please
see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial.
Anson, Chris M. and Robert A.
Schwegler. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers. Second edition.
(2000). Pages 118-120; 270-272; 262-64; 369-71; 448.
Baron, Dennis. “The Passive Voice
Can Be Your Friend,” Declining Grammar and Other Essays On the English
Vocabulary (Urbana: NCTE, 1989), pages 17-22.
Hjortshoj, Keith. The Transition
to College Writing. (2001). Pages 119-121.
Lanham, Richard. Revising Prose.
Fourth edition. (2000).
Orwell, George. Politics and the
English Language. (1946).
Rosen, Leonard J. and Laurence
Behrens. The Allyn & Bacon Handbook. Third edition. (1997). Pages
240-243; 326-327; 340-344.
Strunk and White. The Elements of
Style. Third edition. (1979). Pages 18-19.
Trimble, John R. Writing with
Style. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall. (2000). Pages 55-58.
Williams, Joseph. Style: Ten
Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Sixth edition. (2000). Chapter 3 and pages
70ff.
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/passive-voice/
