JS Tip 623: Passive Flags

From the Writing Workshops: Active and Passive Voice, Part II

We’re exploring the topic again in a series of tips. It’s worth it.  

Three Warning Flags for Passive Voice

Passive voice will generally display three warning flags. 

The first warning flag is some form of the verb “to be.” 

Look at the sentence: The report was written by Belle. Is there any one of the eight forms of “to be”: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been? 

Yup. There it is: Was as in “was written.” 

If you find some form of the verb “to be,” continue to the second warning flag. If you don’t, take a break and watch the clouds roll by. You probably don’t have passive voice. 

The second warning flag is when the word describing the action ends in “-ed,” “-en,” or some variation. (Grammarians call this a past participle, but don’t worry about that. That won’t be on the test.) 

The report was written by Belle. 

What’s the word describing the action? “Written.” What’s the ending? “—en.” Bingo. You’ve picked up the second warning flag. 

The third warning flag is how, when you get to the word describing the action, you can ask yourself, “By whom?” or “By what?” 

Think of our example: The report was written by Belle. 

When you get to the word describing the action, “written,” can you ask “By whom?” Sure, you can. That’s a natural question. Who did it? Who wrote the report? 

If you find all three warning flags, then you probably have passive voice. We’ll explore rewriting passive into active in our next tip.

Oh, golly, we love this stuff.