英语语法：154 Active Voice Versus Passive Voice

Today's topic is active voice versus¹ passive voice.

Here's Brian from Iowa:
“It drives me crazy when people write in passive voice. How can I teach people how to tell the difference between passive and active voice and stay away from passive voice? Thanks.”

A lot of you have asked me to explain passive voice and how to avoid it.

Active Voice
I'll start with active voice because it's simpler. In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. A very straightforward² example is the sentence "Steve loves Amy." Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object. Another example is the title of the Marvin Gaye song I Heard It through the Grapevine. I is the subject, the one who is doing the action. I is hearing it, the object of the sentence.
Passive Voice
In passive voice the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, "Steve loves Amy," I would say, "Amy is loved by Steve." The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient³ of Steve's love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy. If you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say It Was Heard by Me through the Grapevine, not such a catchy⁴ title anymore.

A lot of people think that all sentences that contain a form of the verb to be are in passive voice, but that isn't true. For example, the sentence "I am holding a pen" is in active voice, but it uses the verb am, which is a form of to be. The passive form of that sentence is "The pen is being held by me."

Another important point is that passive sentences aren't incorrect; it’s just that they often aren't the best way to phrase your thoughts. Sometimes passive voice is awkward and other times it’s vague.

When you put sentences in passive voice, it's easy to leave out the agent doing the action. For example, "Amy is loved" is passive. The problem with that sentence is that you don't know who loves Amy. In fact, politicians often use passive voice to intentionally⁵ obscure the idea of who is taking the action. Ronald Reagan famously said, “Mistakes were made” when referring to the Iran-Contra scandal. Other examples of passive voice for political reasons could include “Bombs were dropped” and “Shots were fired.” Since I started writing this episode, I've become more aware of passive voice, and it seems as if I hear politicians use it every day.

So, these are some of the reasons to avoid passive voice: the form can lead to awkward sentences and obscured meaning. Also, passive voice is wordy. You can tighten⁶ up your writing a lot if you use active voice more often than passive.
On the other hand, Mike from Chicago correctly pointed⁷ out that there are instances where passive voice is the best choice. If you don't know who is taking the action, then you can't name that person. Depending on the context, it might make more sense to write, “The cookies were stolen,” instead of, “Somebody stole the cookies.” It's a subtle difference. If you want to put the focus on the cookies, use passive voice. Alternatively, if you want to put the focus on the unknown thief, use active voice. If you were writing a mystery novel you might want to highlight the cookies if their specific disappearance⁸ were central to the story. So you would choose passive voice and say, “The cookies were stolen.” So passive voice is often a good choice when the actor isn't known or doesn't matter, or if you want to create some mystery around your sentence.
So remember, in a passive-voice sentence the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action. Passive voice is not grammatically incorrect; it's just not often the best choice. If you know who did what, it’s better to use an active sentence in most cases.
Announcements
I apologize for posting the show late this week,but I have a really good excuse. I was putting the final touches on my new audiobook: Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing. I'm so excited to have it out. It's a one-hour downloadable audiobook covering 24 different topics. The content is mostly from the podcast archives, but there is some new stuff mixed in, the shows are grouped by topic, it's higher quality audio than you get from the podcasts, and it's just grammar (so there aren't any listener questions or announcements like you get in the podcasts).

You can buy the book right now at audible.com, and it will be available in a day or two in the audiobooks section at iTunes. If you've ever wanted to support the show, this is a great way to do it. I think it's a great deal too: It's only $4.95 and you get something really useful. Also, I want the people at my publishing company to be happy that they took a chance on a podcaster. So please, buy the book.

Web Bonus: Advanced Material
One way to tell your sentence is passive is if the subject isn't taking a direct action. In addition, a passive-voice sentence will always contain a past participle, it will usually contain a form of the verb to be, and it will sometimes contain the word by. These three sentences contain one or more passive-voice components⁹: Shot in the leg, he hobbled to the hospital. He was shot in the leg. The purse-snatcher was shot in the leg by the angry grandma.
 

1 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

2 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

3 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

4 catchy   

adj.易记住的，诡诈的，易使人上当的

参考例句：

• We need a new slogan.The old one's not catchy enough.我们需要新的口号，旧的不够吸引人。
• The chorus is very catchy to say the least.副歌部分很容易上口。

5 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

6 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

9 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。