PASSIVE VOICE: DEFINITION ADN EXAMPLE (Adopted from Richard Nordquist)

Definition

In traditional grammar, a verb form (or voice) in which the grammatical subject receives the verb's action. Example: "A good time was had by all." Contrast with active voice.

The most common form of the passive in English is the short passive or agentless passive: a construction in which the agent (that is, the performer of an action) is not identified. Example: "Mistakes were made." (In a long passive, the object of the verb in an active sentence becomes the subject.)

The passive voice is formed by using the appropriate form of the verb to be (for example, is) and a past participle (for example, formed).

Though style guides often discourage use of the passive, the construction can be quite useful, especially when the performer of an action is unknown or unimportant.

Examples and Observations:

• The painting was sold to someone who later donated it to the college.
• "Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale."
  
• "America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else . . .. America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy." 
• "The young gentleman was later seen by me in front of the gare Saint-Lazare." 

In Defense of the Passive Voice 

"The proportion of passive verbs varies with the type of prose: scientific prose, for instance, may show far more passives than narrative prose. But to point this out is not to denigrate scientific writing. The difference merely reflects the different natures of content, purpose, and audience. Not only is the passive voice a significantly frequent option in modern prose, but it is also often the clearest and briefest way to convey information. Indiscriminate slandering of the passive voice ought to be stopped. The passive should be recognized as a quite decent and respectable structure of English grammar, neither better nor worse than other structures. When it is properly chosen, wordiness and obscurity are no more increased than when the active voice is properly chosen. Its effective and appropriate use can be taught.

• "The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions but by his habitual acts."
  
• "In general, the passive voice should be avoided unless there is good reason to use it, for example, in this sentence, which focuses on 'the passive voice.'"
• "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
  
• "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."
  
  

When to Use the Passive Voice in Journalistic Writing

Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald [in When Words Collide, 8th ed., Wadsworth, 2012] offer two situations in which the passive voice must be used. First, passive voice is justified if the receiver of the action is more important than the creator of the action. They use this example:

A priceless Rembrandt painting was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday by three men posing as janitors.

In this case, the Rembrandt should remain the subject of the sentence even though it receives the action. The painting is obviously more important--more newsworthy--than the three men who stole it.

"Kessler and McDonald's second reason for using passive voice is if the writer has no choice. That's when the writer does not know who what the actor, or the creator of the action, is. The example they use:

The cargo was damaged during the trans-Atlantic flight.

Air turbulence? Sabotage? Was the cargo strapped in properly? The writer doesn't know, so the voice must be passive."

Reffrences:

Richard Nordquist, About.com Guide.

Robert M. Knight, A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity, 2nd ed. Iowa State  

            Press, 2003.

 

Raymond Queneau, "Passive." Exercises in Style, 1947