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The passive voice is when the subject expresses the verb instead of the object. It is often used in scientific, technical, and academic writing and by politicians to avoid blame. The active voice is more commonly used in speech and is favored for its immediacy. While some writing authorities discourage the use of the passive voice, it is still widely used in language and can be necessary for conveying information to large audiences.
The passive voice is a form of written and spoken language in which it is common for the subject to express the verb, instead of the main object of the sentence expressing the verb. An example of a passive voice would be “The toy was picked up by the boy” instead of “The boy picked up the toy.” The latter demonstrates the active voice, which is much more commonly written and spoken.
Active and passive voice are often interchanged in writing and speaking without the author realizing it. Speech tends to favor the active voice. Traditionally, the use of the passive voice as the dominant form in writing has been discouraged, as it seems more detached and impersonal. The tense tends to favor the active voice as a natural form of speaking as it also conveys a sense of immediacy.
It has been said that the passive voice is often used when one wants to detach from involvement or show no partisanship for a particular topic. The passive voice can often be seen in scientific, technical and academic writing. It is also common for politicians to use the passive voice in key cases. A good example of this is when former US President Ronald Reagan apologized for the Iran-Contra scandal on public television with essentially no apology, stating that “mistakes have been made,” but without actively or specifically placing blame on those errors nowhere.
A popular definition of a passive voice labels it as something unassertive or indirectly referenced speaking. In reality, this is not a passive voice at all, but a language that lacks the immediacy that most take on as an active voice. The vague nature of the distinction between passive and active voice can be demonstrated in sentences where there is no active tense at all, yet to the average reader it appears as if it were active voice writing. “My dessert was eaten by someone”, has no active verb, but is considered an active vowel phrase. In contrast, the direct “Someone ate my dessert” is clearly an active voice.
Seminal writing authorities such as Strunk and White’s Elements of Style frown on the use of the passive voice, but use it themselves in the process of criticism. It is so tightly interwoven in most languages that attempting to eliminate it altogether would severely limit the expression of ideas. Spoken language lends itself more naturally to the active voice, but, in written form, there are many instances where the passive voice is an easier and more appropriate method of conveying information to large audiences.
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