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Understanding Passive Voice 1. Understanding Passive Voice Passive voice occurs when: • In the sentence it is unclear who or what is doing the action; • The agent of the action is in the object’s position, and the object (receiver) of the action is in the subject’s position; • A sentence combines a form of “be” (e.g., is, was, are, be, been, being) with the past participle of a verb (verb that indicates past or completed action)—in future tenses, “will” is typically included. Passive voice often hides agency, and many disciplines frown upon this practice. Using active voice as much as possible is ideal. However, later in this handout we review instances in which passive voice is ideal. Active voice is typically in an SVO (Subject‐Verb‐Object) format: S. V. O. In this sample, the action is clear: the agent (pitcher) The pitcher threw the ball performed an action (threw) that affected an object (ball). Passive voice typically has an OVS (Object‐Verb‐Subject) format and has either an overt or implied “by whom/what ” construction. 1 This first example has an overt “by X” construction: In this sample, the agent who performed the action (pitcher) Overt “by whom/what”: is in the object’s position, and the object of the action (ball) is The ball was thrown by the pitcher. in the subject’s position, meaning that the agent’s agency is poorly emphasized. The “by X” in this sentence is “by the pitcher.” Also, the past participle of “throw” is “thrown,” so this sentence combines a form of “be” (was) and a past participle. In this sample, it is unclear who found the information. This Implied “by whom/what”: It was found [by whom/what] that Yeti hunt is the worst type of passive voice because it obscures agency. extra‐terrestrials. What is all the more important is that failing to mention the agency has large implications: was it a scientist who found the information or someone with less reputability? 1
Keep in mind that just because a sentence has “by” does not mean that the sentence is passive! “By” is also a locative preposition indicating the position of an object (e.g., “The pizza is by the door”). 2010 UCD WRITING CENTER
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2. Rewriting Passive to Active Rewriting passive voice to active essentially occurs by: 1) Placing the agent of the action in the subject’s position; 2) Placing the receiver of the action in the object’s position; 3) Specifying the agent of the action if the sentence has an implied “by whom/what” construction. Passive Voice Sentence The ball was thrown by the pitcher. It was found that wood comes from trees. Active Version Explanation The pitcher threw the ball. In the active version, the agent of the action (pitcher) performs an action (threw) upon an object (the ball). Conservation biologists The passive voice sentence is an example of from the University of an implied “by whom/what” construction, Colorado Denver found and the agent of the action (e.g., who found that wood comes from the information) is unclear. In the active trees. version, the agent of the action (Conservation biologists) is clearly stated. Thus, the key with implied “by whom/what” construction is to be as specific as possible when including the agent of the action—the more specific, the better. Here are some more samples of passive voice and their active counterparts: Passive Voice Sentence Active Version Explanation It was determined [by NASA determined that the This has an implied “by X” construction, and whom/what] that the moon has moon has water. the agent of the agent is unclear: who water. determined that the moon has water? Also, notice the rules we discussed earlier: the form of “be” in this sentence is “was,” and the past participle of “determine” is “determined.” In the active version, the agency is very clear. While Julius Caesar conquered While Julius Caesar This example has BOTH passive and active the Gauls, the Romans were conquered the Gauls, voice. The first clause is active because the conquered by Germanic tribes. Germanic tribes agent (Julius Caesar) performed an action conquered the Romans. (conquered) on an object (Gauls). The second clause has an overt “by X” construction, and the agent of the action (Germanic tribes) is not in the subject position, and the object of the action (the Romans) is in the subject position. 2010 UCD WRITING CENTER
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Mistakes were made [by whom/what]. It was found [by whom/what] that many students want the Health Center to offer free vitamins. It was determined by scientists that spider venom is useful in making medicine. Trespassers will be shot [by whom/what]. This observation was used [by whom/what] to infer that this was the coldest summer in at least the past 400 years. I made mistakes OR The President made mistakes. OR The commander made mistakes. The Denver Post found that many students want the Health Center to offer free vitamins. The passive voice is the worst possible because the agency (who committed the mistakes) is extremely unclear. Who or what made the mistakes could be almost anyone or anything. As such, I have some basic examples of how to write the sentence in active voice. This has an implied “by X” construction in that it is unclear who found the finding. This type of construction very often occurs in scientific and policy papers, yet many professors will frown upon such construction because the agent is unclear. Scientists at the University This has an overt “by X” construction and is of Colorado Denver found certainly better than writing simply “It was that spider venom is useful determined that spider venom…” However, in making medicine. again, the agent of the action is deemphasized, and this is an instance when a writer should emphasize the agent. If the agents of the action are highly specific, it is ideal to be specific. We will shoot trespassers. The passive version does not specify agency, OR yet the active versions do specify the agency. The Secret Service will shoot trespassers. Scientists used this Again, it is unclear who performed the action. observation to infer that Using the most‐specific indication of an agent this was the coldest of action is ideal. summer in at least the past 400 years. 2010 UCD WRITING CENTER
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3. Using Passive Voice Passive voice is not always bad. However, its overuse can be distracting for your reader in that it hides agency and can be very clunky. Passive voice is good for three rhetorical choices: transitions, emphasizing the object or receiver of the action, and instances in which sentences only make sense while in passive voice. Transitions and Emphasizing the Object Transitions typically occur when essays moves from one topic to another and the author wants to provide a link between the two so as to increase clarity and enhance flow. For example, if I were writing an essay on cases of purported extra‐terrestrial abductions and am talking about abductions cases in both the U.S. and France, I could transition between the two by writing: While purported extra‐terrestrial abductions are relatively common in America, a greater proportion of French citizens claim to have been abducted by extra‐terrestrials. This sample has two clauses: a relative clause (the part before the comma) and an independent clause (the rest of the sentence). The relative clause discusses the main topic of the first section, and the independent clause (which is probably the most important part of this sentence) transitions from one idea to the next. What the independent clause does is emphasize the receiver of the action, namely “French citizens.” Since my next topic will be about extra‐terrestrial abductions in France, using passive voice emphasizes the receiver of the action and transitions to extra‐terrestrial abductions in France from extra‐terrestrial abductions in America. When passive is better than active There are some instances in which a passive construction of a sentence is more common and more useful than the active construction. Passive She was born in Paris. It is rumored that he is an elephant. Active Her mother bore her in Paris. Someone rumors that he is an elephant. 2010 Notes The passive version is the more common version and flows much more smoothly. The passive is much better, but we could easily write: “Many people suspect that he is an elephant,” which makes much more sense. However, this required changing the verb entirely.