1. Passive Voice Primer
Passive voice isoftenamysteryforthe strugglingwriter.Whatiswrongwithit?Why shouldwe avoidit?
Who reallycares?
Why do we Care?
Afterall,we talkinpassive voice.Listentoanyradioannouncerandyouwill hearspeech fraughtwith
phraseslike,"The bankonthe corner of Southside andDobsonwasrobbedonMonday night."The
announcercouldhave said,"Anunknownpersonrobbedthe bankonthe cornerof Southside and
Dobson."However,we simplydonottalkthisway.
Beginningwritersoftenwrite astheytalk.Whenwe talk,ourvoicesare full of inflection,andourfaces
are alive withexpression.We have bodylanguage thatconveysadditional meaning.We canalways
explainourselveswhenourcommunicationeffortsgowrong—andwe oftendo.
Whenwe write,we have nothingbutthe wordson the paperto workwith.We cannotexplain
ourselves,andwe have one shotatgettingitright.Therefore,we muststrive towrite ina waythat
leavesno doubtasto our intendedmeaning.
Passive sentencesare vague.Considerthe followingsentences:
 The transactionis enteredintothe system.
 The processorentersthe transactioninthe system.
The firstsentence leavesall kindof doubtinthe reader'smind.Whoenteredthe transaction?A person?
Anothercomputer?The systemitself?A divinebeing?The secondsentence removesall ambiguity.
Passive sentencesleave the subjectamystery.Somethingisdone tosomethingelse.Anactive sentence
makesthe subjectclearand sentencesshorter.
It isdifficulttogeta feel forpassive voice.However,once youdo,theywill leapoutatyouevenbefore
Word underlinesthemingreen,andyouwill be able tospotpassive voice thatevenMicrosoftWord
cannot spot.
Four Ways to Spot Passive Voice
Here are some basicguidelinesforspottingpassive sentences.
1. Look for unidentifiedsubjects.Someonemust dothe action.Here isan obviousexample.
 Unidentified:Myattentionwascaught.
What caught the author's attention?We mayneverknow.
2. Look for formsof the verb to be (I am, youare,he,she,or it was,etc.)
 Was eaten,isdistracted,were finished,will be avoided—these are all passive
Caveat:definitionsanddescriptionsoftenuse formsof to be,but are not passive,suchasthe following:

2.  That strange lizardisa gilamonster.
 The sceneryisstunninginArizona,butbeware of gilamonsters.
3. Look for formsof to get or to become.Theycan—butdonot always—indicate passivity.
 I got bit.
 The car became scratched.
4. Look for sentencescontaining by.If anaction can be done by a thing,thenmore oftenthannot,the
thingcan simply dothe action,and it will use fewerwordsindoingso.
 Passive:Mylegwas bittenbythe gilamonster.
Note:MicrosoftWord will notspotthispassive sentence.Thatisbecause itfirststopsonthe word gila,
whichitwants to capitalize.
 Active:The gilamonsterbitmyleg.
 Passive:The gilamonsterwasshot.
 Active:Ishot the gilamonster.
Beware of the Grammar Checker!
MicrosoftWord's abilitytospotpassive voice hasimproved,butitisbestif youdevelopafeel forit,
yourself.If yoursentence containssomethingelse thatWordconsidersanerror,such as gilamonster,
above,itwill notidentifythe passivephrase unlessyoutell Wordtoignore the error.In addition,itwill
onlyfindone errorat a time.Forexample,Wordwill onlyspotthe firstpassive phrase,below.
 Afterthe amount is entered,the calculatedmonthlypaymentwill be displayed.
Word will alsonotrecognize this sentence aspassive,andtechnically,itisnot.
 He ate the sandwich intendedforme.
The highlightedword isanexample of aparticiple,whichcan also hide passivity.Here itisagain,
rewordedsoWord recognizesthe passivity:
 He ate the sandwich thatwas intendedforme.
When to Actually Use Passive Sentences
Everythingisoccasionallyuseful,evenpassive sentences.Whenaccusingsomeone of somethingor
makinga demand,passive voice isthe leastoffensive form.
 Your paymenthasnot beenreceived.
 Thisproblemmustbe solved.
These sentencesleave ituptothe userto decide whathappened,or whomustdo what.