It seems like every other day I come across something that is grumbling at me about passive voice. Sometimes, it's the ProWritingAid app, more often than not highlighting deliberate constructions carefully crafted for show. Other times, it's a beta reader attempting to confuse me with their commentary. And occasionally, it will be a discussion with writers about the differences between active and passive voice.
And every time I have a passive voice conversation, I end up scratching my head.
Why? Because some people are so against the use of passive voice that they go out of their way to make everything active. Yes, it is advisable to use active sentence constructions where possible, but sometimes, writing demands the use of passive voice to make it stronger.
I can hear all the naysayers now, ready to pounce. But do you really understand what passive voice is? You think you do, but it's time to shed a few myths and get down to the heart of the passive vs active voice argument.
Let's start with defining what passive voice is.
Passive vs Active Voice
Passive voice is when the subject of a sentence undergoes an action. Consider the following:
The last apple was eaten by the birds.
In this sentence, emphasis is given to the action (was eaten), rather than who ate the apple (the subject). But to shift this to active voice, one needs to shift the subject of the sentence to who is doing the action.
The birds ate the last apple.
To put it simply, the moment the action becomes more important than the person or thing doing the action, then you have slipped into passive voice.
The contract will be signed tomorrow.
The bridge will be built within the next two years.
The car was loaded by the time Jim got home.
Each one of these sentences is in passive voice because the action is more important than the person doing the action.
But here's where the passive vs active argument can get a little muddled. Consider the following sentence:
The door fell off its hinges in a plume of dust.
If we are to consider the constructions from above, one might think this is passive voice, but it's not. The subject of the sentence (the door) is the one doing the action (fell off its hinges).
Now, let's add even more confusion into this.
The apple fell from the tree.
Rain was falling from the sky.
Both sentences are active constructions, because the apple is the one doing the action, as is the rain.
The car drove down the street three times.
This is also an active sentence, though most cars don't drive themselves—at least not yet.
The body was found in the river.
Passive.
A car was seen driving down the street.
Passive.
Measurements were taken of the tire tracks left in the dirt.
Passive.
Are you starting to see the differences now?
Okay… Maybe you're not, because each of the above sentences use a past progressive verb (using the was/were construction). But just because a sentence uses was doesn't make it passive.
Bryton was leaning against the tree.
That's an active construction, folks. And so is the following:
Bryton had been leaning against the tree.
Look at whether the subject of the sentence is doing the action, or whether the action is being done to the subject.
Sometimes, the action is more important.
When writing your stories, don't be quick to dismiss the passive constructions because someone told you that you should write in active voice. Sometimes, the stronger story comes from passive. There will be times when the action is more important than the person or thing doing the action.
Consider a fictional crime story where the chief investigator will piece the information together from various sources. The ME/coroner will be focused on the body and what happened to it. They won't really care who committed those acts. It's more about the fact that it happened.
Skin samples were found under the victim's nails.
The victim was likely strangled.
Tissue samples have been sent to the lab.
Yes, there are other ways to construct these sentences, but look at what is important for your story, and go from there.
And what about this one?
Her hands were tied down to the armrests of the chair.
It's a passive sentence, but in that moment, who cares who did the action. The strength in the sentence comes from us not knowing who or what had tied her hands down.
Active or passive, both sentence constructions have their uses and their strengths. Try both constructions in a given location within your writing and see what works best. Eventually, you'll just know.