Tip of the Week: 9 November 2009

BE ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE!

In active voice, passivity hounds many writers, but in passive voice, many writers are hounded by passivity.  Do you notice the difference?  Many do not, or defer to the latter because it sounds more sophisticated.  It doesn’t.

Instead, passive voice adds wordiness and an awkwardness to sentences, causing the passage to feel “overwritten” or just boring.  Speaking technically, the difference between active voice and passive voice is fairly simple and only comes down to where the direct object of a sentence is located in relation to the action verb of the sentence: in passive voice, the direct object comes before the verb and in active voice the direct object comes after the verb.  The direct object receives the action of the verb.

For example (DO is bolded):

Active: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Passive: The lazy dog was jumped over by the quick brown fox.

Active: The Final Drafters will correct your passive voice sentences.
Passive: Your passive voice sentences will be corrected by The Final Drafters.

Not only does passive voice add words, but its overuse complicates your writing to the point that it becomes unpleasant to read.  Aside from that, active voice gets right to the point.  In a situation where word count or space limitations dictate how much you can say and how you can say it, make every word count.  Write actively, not passively.

Write on!
-TFD