The Voice of a Verb

Are you doing something? Or is something being done to you?

Verbs can be passive or active, and knowing the difference isn’t as difficult as one might think. In short, the designation of passive or active voice depends on whether or not the subject of a sentence is actively doing something or passively having something done to it.

The house was built.

The house (subject) sits there passively having something done to it. Changing the sentence to active voice requires a change of subject.

The carpenters built the house.

You may say that the house is still having something done to it, and you are right. The difference is in the subject. Carpenters (subject) are actively building the house (object).

In the other sentence, the house itself is the subject and is having something done to it by nameless, unidentified people, probably with hammers and nails at their command.

At times, when the writer does not know who is the one acting, passive voice comes in handy, but it should be used sparingly.

Active voice verbs add interest for two reasons. One is that the subject is the known doer of deeds, and the second is that the sentence is simply livelier when an expressive verb in active voice describes what is happening. In scientific writing, though, passive voice is preferred because the one conducting a study or experiment is not considered to be as important as the subject matter itself, the study or the experiment. The study (subject) was found to be in error (passive voice), rather than the genius scientist (subject) found the study to be in error (active voice). The important aspect is the study itself, not the person who finds a flaw in it.

Most good writing, however, employs active voice, with subjects clearly identified as performing actions. Which of the following sentences seems more exciting or at least informative?

One, the football was thrown.

Or, two, the quarterback threw the football.

In sentence one, passive voice, there is no one in particular who throws the football. It is just there, the football, and is thrown.

In sentence two, active voice, a quarterback throws the football, someone clearly acting. (A few adjectives to describe the quarterback and adverbs to say how well he threw the football would add zest to the sentence, but that’s another topic.)

Active or passive voice refers to verb use, but whether a sentence is active or passive depends on the subject of the sentence. If the subject of the sentence is having something done to it, the sentence is passive. If the subject of the sentence is acting, the verb is in active voice.

This blog has been written. Roxy has written this blog. Both are true enough, but the voice is different. The blog was just passively having writing come upon it by an unnamed entity in one case. In the other case, Roxy, the writer, came to the page and acted upon it, writing a blog. The passive voice blog may not care either way, but Roxy does care as the active voice writer of this blog.

Roxy’s tip: Use active voice as the rule, passive voice as the exception.

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!