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The Problem With Passive Sentences

When you write on the job, you want to be clear. Sometimes the use of passive voice can create awkward sentences; also, overuse of passive voice throughout a correspondence can cause your writing to seem flat and uninteresting.

You can recognize passive-voice expressions because the verb phrase will always include a form of be, such as am, is, was, were, are, or been. The presence of a be-verb, however, does not necessarily mean that the sentence is in passive voice; the be-verb may be used with other verbs to indicate tense.

The following sentence and the correction will illustrate the problem:

It is absolutely necessary before flying planes with passengers to have adequate training.

Correction: Pilots must have adequate training before flying passengers.

As you can see rewriting the sentence to eliminate the “It is” clause creates both clarity and conciseness. Also, we now have the information of who is flying the plane. That’s the key to correcting the passive sentence. Ask yourself who or what is performing the action taking place, and you’ve found the right subject for your sentence. In the case of the sentence above, I asked myself who’s flying the plane and who’s getting training.

Passive-voice sentences may include a “by…” phrase after the verb; the agent performing the action, if named, is the object of the preposition in the “by…” phrase. In this case, the object of the preposition should be the subject of the sentence.

Example: There are several courses which should be completed by pilots before they perform solo flights.

Correction: Pilots should complete several courses before they perform solo flights.

Passive sentences you should always try to avoid begin as follows:

It is - There is - This is - It was - There are - This was

The passive voice can be used to deliberately phrase sentences to exclude the true subject. Look at Ronald Reagan’s statement, “Mistakes were made,” when discussing the report on the Iran-Contra scandal. This type of passive sentence allows him to take no responsibility, disclose no details of just what “mistakes” there might have been, etc. However, probably none of us, even on the job, want to appear quite so evasive; we might appear guilty of something.

In most nonscientific writing situations, active voice is preferable to passive for the majority of your sentences. In scientific writing, the passive voice is more readily accepted since this practice sometimes helps to create the appearance of an objective, fact-based discourse. However, even in scientific writing, overuse of passive voice or use of passive voice in long and complicated sentences can cause readers to lose interest or to become confused. Sentences in active voice are generally–though not always–clearer and more direct than those in passive voice.

Vickie Adair is the senior technical writer at Media A-Team (http://www.mediaateam.com) and also publishes as a freelance writer. She writes for http://www.houstonmanufacturers.com, a website for Houston manufacturers, providers, and suppliers, and http://www.natural-products-directory.com, a directory of online business that sell or manufacture organic and/or natural products.

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