I’m not afraid to break a few writing rules. In my world, ending a sentence with a preposition isn’t unheard of. Sentence fragments? I’ll use them when the mood strikes. And (gasp) I’ll even start the occasional sentence with a conjunction.
But until recently, passive verbs were a no go in a my book.
I heeded my AP English teacher’s advice to circle all the verbs on the page and rewrite any sentence that dared include a passive verb (confession: I often skip that first step but don’t tell Mrs. Englemeyer).
Then, while I was earning a post-bach certificate in writing, the professor shocked me by telling us that, when used judiciously, passive verbs are actually very handy.
Say your client has a nasty habit of inserting errors into your copy, then blaming you. Instead of saying, “you changed the copy yourself, you numbskull!!!” you could write, “The copy I filed had the correct information, but errors were inserted later on. Would you like me to resend the original version?” (In case you’re unclear on active vs. passive verbs, the phrase “were inserted” is passive because it’s unclear who is performing the action. In this case, inserting errors.)
It’s a diplomatic way of setting the record straight without assigning blame. The recipient can connect the dots for you.
Then last week, I took a copyediting class, and the professor made another argument for passive voice. After I suggested restructuring a sentence so the actor was more clear, she answered, “actually, passive voice isn’t so bad. In this context, it helps vary the syntax.” In other words, you don’t want every sentence to follow the exact same structure, so throwing in the occasional passive verb helps mix things up. *Hangs head in embarrassment*
I still think Mrs. Englemeyer was right to make us aware of passive voice, but I’m starting to see that there are a few instances where it isn’t so bad. In fact, there are times when it should be used. Embraced, even.
What do you think? Is there a place for passive verbs? Or do you side with Mrs. Englemeyer on this one?
Image courtesy of surrealmuse
Whenever an editor narrow-mindedly looks down her nose and says “we do not use passive verbs here.” I think, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” and “It is a truth universally acknowledged that….”
If passive verbs are good enough for Charles Dickens and for Jane Austin, they are good enough for me.
Constant use can lull the reader to sleep, but turning a passive into an active construction sometimes winds up with a pretzel sentence.
Pretzel sentences are no good. That’s why it makes sense to end with a preposition instead of finding some ridiculous workaround! Good points about Dickens and Austin, too.
Great topic, Susan!
Sometimes the actor isn’t clear, so the passive voice makes sense. I come across this in descriptions of stock market activity.
Still, I try to eliminate the passive whenever possible. It typically strengthens sentences.
Fun post, Susan! I’m definitely a fan of the passive verb for both of the reasons you mention. And an additional reason for me is that when I copyedit scientific manuscripts, most journals advise against authors describing their experiments in the first person (“we mixed one liter of fluid A with fluid B”, so passive verbs are much more useful scientifically (“one liter of fluid A was mixed with fluid B”). Sometimes rules are good to break.
So I definitely won’t tell Mrs Englemeyer!
I’m a big fan of the active voice and wish more teachers would teach it to kids in school because it usually makes it easier for readers to understand what you’re saying and not feel dumb as they otherwise struggle to figure out what you’re talking about when they stumble upon the passive voice. So many non-writers have no idea what “active” and “passive” voices are, but they can feel the difference when reading. However, I completely agree with you that the passive voice can help you hold onto a job because it keeps you from pointing a finger at the offending party and instead focus on the mistake and getting it corrected.
There are always exceptions, especially when the meaning of what the author is trying to say remains in tact.
Ha, I love this discussion! I too trained myself to weed out passive voice in an effort to give copy some va-va-voom. And I too start sentences with conjunctions and end with prepositions happily, at least in sales and marketing communications copy.
But I do wish you’d shared the sentence in question from the last copyediting class you took. While I agree in principle that changing up syntax can help something breathe a little, I’m still curious about the specific example. I guess I have the sneaking suspicion I’d have raised my hand to say, “Hey, get rid of that!” too!
Lindsey, I wish I could remember the exact wording, but it said something to the effect of (I’m not making this up!) “redheads are mistreated by society.” I suggested “society mistreats redheads,” since it’s tighter, but that was vetoed by the professor. I mean, the professor vetoed the suggestion … I see her point but I still like my construction better.
Susan,
I’m very much in line with your first paragraph. I love the freedom of breaking rules but run from passivity. Funny you should mention this discussion, though, as I have also noticed the use of passive voice in recent readings and (gasp) thought it a better treatment than active. And as I read over some recent work, I wondered if my active-ness overcharged every sentence, essentially removing some of my voice.
I’ll be thinking this over today as I edit and revise. Thanks for pointing this out.
Thanks for sharing it Susan. That’s REALLY interesting. I do kind of like the passive version of that… maybe because it feels more forgiving.
Ultimately, our writing skills are always going to have to go up against our reading skills, if you know what I mean. Which is why what Charles Dickens did or did not do has nothing to do at all with what we should do when writing copy or articles necessarily. It sounds beautiful.
Going to stop now before I go down the art/not-art rabbit hole.
You have made me reconsider my staunch HATRED of passive voice. I won’t go inserting it into much, though. I think, overall, most of us want to read straight, clear-cut prose, and that’s where active voice comes in and fits nicely. And it’s harder to sound annoyingly passive aggressive when you’re using active voice (assuming, of course, that you don’t want to sound that way…).
Ending in a preposition, though? I’m with you. Sometimes just has to be done.
Great topic and good food for thought!
All writing rules, once mastered, can be broken a time or two in the right instance.
Well, all rules but this one anyway. 
“post-bach certificate in writing”
HOLD THE PRESSES. tell me about this. My masters in pro writing is killing me.
The program was through Emerson College’s professional education division (in Boston) and could be completed in one semester by taking classes every Tuesday and Thursday. However, it was broken into several shorter modules so I split it up over two semesters since I had a bunch of other things going on (I did miss the continuity of doing it in one semester but this made more sense for me). No grades, but there was homework and you wouldn’t get the certificate if you skipped the homework or missed a class. Your master’s program is probably more rigorous, but I appreciated the flexibility and still feel like it was a useful refresher (not everything was review, there were other concepts that were new to me). In fact, I’m still in touch with my classmates and professor.