Passive Voice vs. Active Voice

I heard this a lot in school and on writing videos when they explain the do's and don'ts of writing. But what exactly does this mean, and how does it impact your writing?

Passive voice and active voice describe how an action is indicated. When writing, we have to depict everything and anything that happens in a book. We can't see someone picking up a pencil like you can in a movie. As writers, we have to describe the action with words.

Words are reader's gateway into a world. It allows the reader to gather an understanding of what is happening in the story, develop a mental picture, and follow along with the plot.

You may still be wondering what passive voice and active voice mean.

To quote from an actual definition:

Passive voice: subject is a recipient of a verb's action

Active voice: subject performs action denoted by the verb

Still confusing? Let's break it down.

Passive voice is...

Object + verb + subject

An example would be:

This blog was written by Bob.

(In passive voice, sometimes the subject is dropped entirely; this blog was written.)

In passive voice, the action (the blog being written) is not being credited to Bob as the writer, as he is not the star of the sentence. Rather, the action is being put onto Bob. The blog is the star, and it is telling us it was written by Bob as an afterthought.

In a story, we do not want to distract from the main character, the star of the show (or book, have you). We want to give them credit for everything they are doing. We want to see them in action, and not hear about it as an after thought.

It would be like hearing: Hogwarts was saved by Harry Potter.

Okay?? Harry Potter is an afterthought. He is not the star. When you read the sentence, what stands out to you the most? HOGWARTS. Why? Because it comes first. It is describing what happened to it, and not the efforts put forth by the main character. This is why passive voice is often categorized as a don't because it puts distance between the reader and the main character they are following.

Let's bring a real life scenario into this.

If you accomplish something and hear someone tell another: The A was earned by [INSERT NAME] — it just doesn't sound right! You want your name—YOU—to be the star. You want YOUR credit. The A didn't earn itself!

Let's switch it to active voice.

[INSERT NAME] got an A.

That sounds a whole lot better. Why? Because it gives credit where credit is due. The reader can connect to the person who received the A, rather than be expected to form a connection to the letter grade. It pulls the reader into the story and forges a bond between them and the main character.

Now that we know what passive voice is, and why it is said to be a don't in writing, let's dive into the details of active voice.

Active voice is...

Subject + verb + Object

An example would be:

Bog wrote this blog.

First off, let's marvel at how simplistic that is. This active sentence is FOUR WORDS. The other was six. Active voice alone can shave off unnecessary words from your word count.

You may be thinking. It's only two words! What difference does it make?

Words are like money. You may have plenty, but if you save them up and spend them when necessary, it will benefit you in the long run.

Imagine you have ten passive sentences in a chapter. That's twenty words you can cut (or more if your sentences are more complex, which I know they are). Imagine thirty chapters that follow the same pattern. That is 600 words. It adds up.

An even larger difference, just as I explained before—active voice gives credit where credit is due. It allows the main character to be the star of the show. Readers cannot relate to objects. Readers are not objects; they live and breathe and walk and talk and think and have opinions and emotions. Readers can relate to subjects (especially human subjects) because of the characteristics they have in common. If readers cannot relate to the main character, their desire to keep reading severely diminishes. If there is no connection to the main character, their care for what happens to the main character is nonexistent.

Moreover, active voice speeds the book along. No one wants to sit through a boring, slow paced book. Active voice is far more interesting and much shorter, allowing for a swift transition from one sentence, to the next, and so on (which is what reading is). It also makes the writing easier to understand.

Have you ever sat there, pondering a line in a book you're reading, wondering what the heck it means? That takes the reader out of the story. A big uh-oh. Simplicity—active voice—can help reduce the chances of this.

Now I am not saying everything should be short and simple. That will also read boring and remove intrigue.

Bob wrote this blog. Bob had fun. Bob wants to be a writer.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.....

Complexity is beneficial because adds intrigue, rhythm, and flow. Slow pacing is good during the times when you want to slow down the pacing and focus on specific details, perhaps give the character a moment to catch their breath and reorganize their thoughts.

While active voice is the better choice 90% of the time, passive voice has its uses in writing, too.

For example, passive voice is good at drawing attention to something. Why? Because passive voice sounds...different. We don't typically go around saying: The A was earned by Bob! The B was earned by Chelsey! When we hear it, it stands out.

While passive voice doesn't make the subject the star of the show, it has other ways of drawing attention or highlighting something.

What if we want to draw attention to the object rather than the subject.

The bank was robbed by Bob.

In this instance, we don't particularly care about Bob. In fact, he does so little to impact the sentence that we could even forget him all together:

The bank was robbed.

If there is a circumstance in which Bob was more important than the robbing of the bank, we would want to use active voice. But since we don't know who Bob is (hence, have no connection to him) it is safe to say we do not care. I'm sure we can all connect to a bank being robbed, though. We grew up knowing it is a horrible thing that has disastrous consequences. Since it is of higher importance, it makes sense to give it that top spot.

Passive voice can also work in the opposite way, if we want to distract from the subject.

Let's say our main character did something wrong and wanted to take the blame off of them. They may say something like:

"The car was damaged."

This takes the blame off them, as it would highlight their responsibility in active voice:

"I damaged the car."

To sum everything up, the do's and don'ts of writing are guidelines. There is no right or wrong way to do anything. Everything serves a purpose. Everything has a role. It all depends on the time and the place.

Active voice plays a far greater role, and should typically be strived for in writing. However, passive voice also has its benefits and should make an appearance every once in a while to mix things up.

I hope this helps you understand passive and active voice a bit more. It is something I struggled with, and found breaking it down like this helpful when trying to understand the differences and importance of both passive and active voice. As always, I will not prescribe anything to you. I only share what I find to help me in the hopes it will help someone else, too.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know in the comments bar! Have a great rest of your day :)