“The suspect was seen running near the scene of the crime.” “The suspect was shot.” “Mistakes were made.”
Can we talk about the passive voice for a second?
Politicians and public officials love the grammatical form, but you’ll recall from high school English that good writers avoid the passive voice. Reporters learn in journalism school or when they first start writing police blotters to steer clear of the passive voice. Even the FBI advises law enforcement agencies to avoid the noncommittal sentence construction.
Why’s that? Because the passive voice doesn’t tell you who saw the suspect, who shot him, who made those tragic mistakes, and therefore, who must take responsibility.
Here’s how Dictionary.com explains it:
A verb is in the passive voice when the subject of the sentence is acted on by the verb. For example, in “The ball was thrown by the pitcher,” the ball (the subject) receives the action of the verb and was thrown is in the passive voice. The same sentence cast in the active voice would be, “The pitcher threw the ball.”
We have to be careful when we speak to say exactly what we mean and to mean exactly…
A sentence written in passive voice shifts the focus from the subject doing the action to the recipient of the action. Sentences in passive voice may be less clear, direct, and concise.
The passive voice is your friend when the thing receiving an action or the action itself is the important part of the sentence—especially in scientific and legal contexts, times when the performer of an action is unknown, or cases where the subject is distracting or irrelevant.
Any form of the word "to be." The words "am," "is," "are," "was," "were," "be," "being," and "been" come before the verb in passive voice form. The "-en" form of the verb. An "-en" verb form is an indication of passive construction.
If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb. Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly.
Once you have identified passive voice in your writing, try separating the subject. Ask yourself who or what is doing the action. Then, make that person or thing the subject of the sentence by moving it to the first place in the sentence. The research was completed by the student.
In the Passive Voice, the subject is a recipient of an action. The Passive Voice brings the reader's focus to something, instead of the one that is doing the action. The Active Voice can make a sentence clearer and sound more natural.
Introduction: My name is Errol Quitzon, I am a fair, cute, fancy, clean, attractive, sparkling, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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