JS Tip 621: Passive Voice and Accountability

From the Writing Workshops: Passive Voice and Accountability 

It’s been a while since we talked about active and passive voice. It’s time to revisit. 

What They Are

They’re both forms of writing (and speaking) involving word order. 

With active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action of the sentence: 

      Monica wrote the report. 

(Monica’s the subject. She’s doing the writing.) 

With passive voice, the subject of the sentence receives the action of the sentence:

      The report was written by Monica. 

(Now the report is the subject, and it’s being acted upon. It’s being written by Monica.) 

What the Problem Is 

With passive voice, it’s too easy to lose accountability. It’s too easy to let the person doing the action get away:  

      Mistakes were made. 

Wait a minute. By whom? Who made the mistakes? Doggone it, admit it! 

Passive voice is a refuge for scoundrels. 

We’ll continue the discussion next week. 

This is fun, isn’t it? 

We love this stuff.