{"id":942,"date":"2016-04-14T15:58:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T15:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=942"},"modified":"2016-07-25T23:06:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T23:06:50","slug":"passive-voice-4-8-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/chapter\/passive-voice-4-8-2\/","title":{"raw":"Text: Using the Passive Voice","rendered":"Text: Using the Passive Voice"},"content":{"raw":"There are several different situations where the passive voice is more useful than the active voice.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>When you don't know who did the action:\u00a0<em>The paper had been moved.<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The active voice would be something like this: \"Someone had moved the paper.\" While this sentence\u00a0is technically fine, the passive voice sentence has a more subtle element of mystery, which can be especially helpful in creating a mood in fiction.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>When you want to hide who did the action:\u00a0<em>The window had been\u00a0broken.<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The sentence is either hiding who broke the window or they do not know. Again, the sentence can be reformed to say \"Someone had broken the window,\" but using the word <em>someone<\/em>\u00a0clearly indicates that someone (though we may not know who) is at fault here. Using the passive puts the focus on the window rather than on the person who broke it, as he or she is completely left out of the sentence.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>When you want to emphasize the person or thing the action was done to: <em>Caroline\u00a0was hurt\u00a0when Kent broke up with her.<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>We automatically focus on the subject of the sentence. If the sentence\u00a0were to say \"Kent\u00a0hurt Caroline when he broke up with her,\" then our focus would be drawn to Kent rather than Caroline.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A\u00a0subject that can't actually <em>do <\/em>anything:\u00a0<em>Caroline was hurt when she fell into the trees.<\/em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>While the trees hurt Caroline, they didn't actually do anything. Thus, it makes more sense to have Caroline as the subject rather than saying \"The trees hurt Caroline when she fell into them.\"<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> It's often against convention in scholarly writing to\u00a0use <em>I<\/em>.<em>\u00a0<\/em>While this may seem\u00a0like a forced rule, it also stems from the fact that scholars\u00a0want to emphasize the science or research as opposed to the author of the paper. This often results in the passive voice being the best choice.<\/div>\r\n<h2>Using the Passive<\/h2>\r\nNow that we know there are some instances where passive voice is the best choice, how do we\u00a0use the passive voice to it fullest? The answer lies in writing direct sentences\u2014in passive voice\u2014that have simple subjects and verbs. Compare the two sentences below:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Photomicrographs were taken to facilitate easy comparison of the samples.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Easy comparison of the samples was facilitated by the taking of photomicrographs.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nBoth sentences are written in the passive voice, but for most ears the first sentence is more direct and understandable, and therefore preferable. Depending on the context, it does a clearer job of telling us what was done and why it was done. Especially if this sentence appears in the \u201cExperimental\u201d section of a report (and thus readers already know that the authors of the report took the photomicrographs), the first sentence neatly represents what the authors actually did\u2014took photomicrographs\u2014and why they did it\u2014to facilitate easy comparison.\r\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2><div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/19CLC4_4U30wQHiPPfLhVXhUsHeAPHMvHfBlCpu_Gbm8\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a>","rendered":"<p>There are several different situations where the passive voice is more useful than the active voice.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When you don&#8217;t know who did the action:\u00a0<em>The paper had been moved.<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>The active voice would be something like this: &#8220;Someone had moved the paper.&#8221; While this sentence\u00a0is technically fine, the passive voice sentence has a more subtle element of mystery, which can be especially helpful in creating a mood in fiction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>When you want to hide who did the action:\u00a0<em>The window had been\u00a0broken.<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>The sentence is either hiding who broke the window or they do not know. Again, the sentence can be reformed to say &#8220;Someone had broken the window,&#8221; but using the word <em>someone<\/em>\u00a0clearly indicates that someone (though we may not know who) is at fault here. Using the passive puts the focus on the window rather than on the person who broke it, as he or she is completely left out of the sentence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>When you want to emphasize the person or thing the action was done to: <em>Caroline\u00a0was hurt\u00a0when Kent broke up with her.<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>We automatically focus on the subject of the sentence. If the sentence\u00a0were to say &#8220;Kent\u00a0hurt Caroline when he broke up with her,&#8221; then our focus would be drawn to Kent rather than Caroline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A\u00a0subject that can&#8217;t actually <em>do <\/em>anything:\u00a0<em>Caroline was hurt when she fell into the trees.<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>While the trees hurt Caroline, they didn&#8217;t actually do anything. Thus, it makes more sense to have Caroline as the subject rather than saying &#8220;The trees hurt Caroline when she fell into them.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\"><strong>Note:<\/strong> It&#8217;s often against convention in scholarly writing to\u00a0use <em>I<\/em>.<em>\u00a0<\/em>While this may seem\u00a0like a forced rule, it also stems from the fact that scholars\u00a0want to emphasize the science or research as opposed to the author of the paper. This often results in the passive voice being the best choice.<\/div>\n<h2>Using the Passive<\/h2>\n<p>Now that we know there are some instances where passive voice is the best choice, how do we\u00a0use the passive voice to it fullest? The answer lies in writing direct sentences\u2014in passive voice\u2014that have simple subjects and verbs. Compare the two sentences below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Photomicrographs were taken to facilitate easy comparison of the samples.<\/li>\n<li>Easy comparison of the samples was facilitated by the taking of photomicrographs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Both sentences are written in the passive voice, but for most ears the first sentence is more direct and understandable, and therefore preferable. Depending on the context, it does a clearer job of telling us what was done and why it was done. Especially if this sentence appears in the \u201cExperimental\u201d section of a report (and thus readers already know that the authors of the report took the photomicrographs), the first sentence neatly represents what the authors actually did\u2014took photomicrographs\u2014and why they did it\u2014to facilitate easy comparison.<\/p>\n<h2>Contribute!<\/h2>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">Did you have an idea for improving this content? We\u2019d love your input.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/19CLC4_4U30wQHiPPfLhVXhUsHeAPHMvHfBlCpu_Gbm8\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-weight: 600; color: #077fab; text-decoration: none; border: 2px solid #077fab; border-radius: 7px; padding: 5px 25px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.5em;\">Improve this page<\/a><a style=\"margin-left: 16px;\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1vy-T6DtTF-BbMfpVEI7VP_R7w2A4anzYZLXR8Pk4Fu4\">Learn More<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-942\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revision and Adaptation. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>The Passive versus Active Voice Dilemma. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Joe Schall. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The Pennsylvania State University. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/c1_p11.html\">https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/c1_p11.html<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":64,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revision and Adaptation\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Passive versus Active Voice Dilemma\",\"author\":\"Joe Schall\",\"organization\":\"The Pennsylvania State University\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.e-education.psu.edu\/styleforstudents\/c1_p11.html\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"398805a7-0a2f-4cc4-8ca7-4d8c88ceb262, 1a2ddb19-6db3-411c-bcc6-6ff4417d6249","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-942","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":21,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2877,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/942\/revisions\/2877"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/21"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/942\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=942"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-level1-english-gen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}