It’s a pleasure to introduce you to the first in a series of brief postings on effective writing in English. If there is a topic you would like to see in future articles, please drop us a line.

WHO ATE THE BURGLAR?

The passive voice is a grammatical construction that uses as its subject the noun that, in an active revision of the sentence, would be the direct object of some verb’s action. Thus the active sentence, I ate the burglar, when rewritten in the passive voice, would come out as, The burglar was eaten.

A common mistake is to tell writers to “avoid the passive voice.” This advice is short-sighted at best and dangerous at worst. The choice of passive or active voice should be based on where you want the reader’s attention to go. If eating intruders is prohibited in your municipality (as it is here in Ireland), and you wish to avoid prosecution, odds are you’ll want to go with The burglar was eaten. On the other hand, if you feel like making a statement about the injustice of the law preventing you from consuming burglars, and you’re ready, willing, and eager to draw attention to your case, you can fly the flag proudly: I ate the burglar. Dammit.

Pardon us while we tidy up the dining room. Bit of a fracas earlier.

THE CAREFUL WORDSMITH’S TAKEAWAYS

A sentence written in the passive voice uses the direct object of some verbal action as its subject: The burglar was eaten.

 Use the passive voice strategically.

Good reasons to use the passive voice may include not knowing who performed an action, or not wanting to say who performed an action, even if you are well aware of the person’s identity.