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PASSIVE VOICE |
There are legitimate uses for the passive voice: “this absurd regulation
was of course written by a committee.” But it’s true that you can make
your prose more lively and readable by using the active voice much more
often. “The victim was attacked by three men in ski masks” isn’t nearly
as striking as “three men in ski masks attacked the victim.” The passive
voice is often used to avoid taking responsibility for an action: “my
term paper was accidentally deleted” avoids stating the truth: “I
accidentally deleted my term paper.” Over-use of passive constructions
is irritating, though not necessarily erroneous. But it does lead to
real clumsiness when passive constructions get piled on top of each
other: “no exception to the no-pets rule was sought to be created so
that angora rabbits could be raised in the apartment” can be made
clearer by shifting to the active voice: “the landlord refused to make
an exception to the no-pets rule to allow Eliza to raise angora rabbits
in the apartment.”
