The passive voice

The most common problem in student writing is overusing thepassive voice. You've probably heard that before. But it's hard to cut down on the passive voice if you're not sure how it works or how to turn it into the active voice. Thus the following verb tree. It shows the major branchings within verbs and verb constructions. It can help you understand things like the relationship between active voice and passive voice or the difference between active voice and active verbs.

　　As the diagram shows, voice is a property of transitive verbs, verbs that take direct objects. There are two kinds of voice, active and passive. In the active voice, the subject of the verb performs the action—it is active. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action—it is passive. The same transitive verb can be put into the active voice or the passive voice at the writer's choice.

　　One potentially confusing thing to notice: some words may be used both as a being verb （Hamlet feels alienated） and an active verb （He felt raindrops）. Likewise, sometimes the same word may be used as both a transitive verb （I dropped my backpack） and an intransitive verb （The backpack dropped）. You have to look at how a verb is being used in a particular clause to analyze its properties.

　　The active voice expresses actions in a straightforward fashion. The subject performs the action upon the direct object. In the passive voice, however, this is turned around. The subject, which was expressed as the direct object in the active voice, receives the action:

ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
Griffey hit the ball.
The ball was hit.

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1600.
Hamlet was written around 1600.

We measured the particle's rate of decay.
The particle's rate of decay was measured.

　　When you write a sentence in the passive voice you have the option of leaving out the doer of the action. That's because the doer is no longer integral to the sentence's grammar. If you do wish to provide that information, you do so in a prepositional phrase beginning with by, a construction that doesn't affect the basic subject-verb structure:

　　The ball was hit by Griffey.
　　Hamlet was written around 1600 by Shakespeare.
　　The particle's rate of decay was measured by our research team.

　　To emphasize, these prepositional phrases that assign agency are optional. They are not grammatically required （I think of prepositional phrases in general as decorations on a Christmas tree—without them the tree might lack something, but it won't collapse. And just as with blinking Christmas lights, some people go prepositional-phrase-happy）.

　　This quality of the passive voice—allowing one to duck the question of who did something—has long made it beloved of politicians and others eager to seem contrite without actually taking responsibility. Mistakes were made is a particular favorite:

Mistakes were made. . .

Deng: Why is there still such a big noise being made about Watergate?

　　Kissinger: That is a series of almost incomprehensible events. . . . It has its roots in the fact that some mistakes were made, but also, when you change many policies, you make many, many enemies.

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger speaking with
Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping （April 14, 1974）

　　While we are still seeking all the facts, it's obvious that the execution of these policies was flawed and mistakes were made. Let me just say it was not my intent to do business with Khomeini, to trade weapons for hostages, nor to undercut our policy of anti-terrorism.

Ronald Reagan, radio broadcast （December 6, 1986）

　　It costs so much money to pay for these campaigns that mistakes were made here by people who either did it deliberately or inadvertently. Now, others—it's up to others to decide whether those mistakes were made deliberately or inadvertently.

Bill Clinton, press conference （January 28, 1997）

　　Mistakes were made that cost my son's life and all I can say is I'm so sorry for what happened.

Brian Peterson, on trial with his girlfriend for killing
their infant son, in court testimony （July 8, 1998）

　　Sometimes the passive voice is a good, reasonable choice. It's probably a good choice when you don't know who did an action, don't care, or don't want your reader to know—in other words, when you want to put the focus on the thing receiving the action:

　　Microsoft was founded in 1975.
　　Earthquakes are caused by the movement of plates over the earth's mantle.
　　The suspect was last seen driving north on the interstate.

　　The passive voice can also prove useful if you want to put the doer of the action at the end of the sentence in order to create a bridge to the next sentence:

　　The marathon was won by a runner from Kenya. This African nation has produced many world-class long-distance runners.
　　Saturn was created in 1985 by General Motors. GM, the world's largest auto maker, was trying to learn a new way to build and market cars.

　　But usually when students write in the passive they produce prose that is harder to read than the active voice:

ORIGINAL REVISION
The Taft-Hartley Act was also used to support the Court's decision.
The Court also cited the Taft-Hartley Act.

While reading Mill's"On Liberty," the concept of personal freedom was discussed.
In"On Liberty," Mill discusses the concept of personal freedom.

The view of the mother is displayed when Garland writes,"She didn't want to leave our home and move west."
Garland says his mother"didn't want to leave our home and move west."

It was discussed in this reading that it is important for us to understand the person that we are interacting with.
Smith argues that it is important to understand the person one is interacting with.

In the novel's early chapters, a large emphasis is placed upon his pride.
The novel's early chapters emph