Section 11.9 Voice and Rhetorical Impact
You have probably been told at some point to “avoid passive voice.” That advice, taken as an absolute rule, misses the point. Passive voice exists because it does something active voice cannot: it moves the patient into the subject position, which lets you control emphasis, manage information flow, and omit actors when they are unknown or irrelevant. The question is never whether passive is “good” or “bad”—it is whether a particular passive sentence serves the reader better than its active alternative.
When Passive Serves the Reader.
1. The actor is unknown or irrelevant. When who performed the action does not matter or is not known, passive lets you avoid an awkward or vague subject:
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My car was stolen last night. (who did it is unknown)
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The building was constructed in 1920. (the builder is not important)
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English is spoken in over sixty countries. (by whom is self-evident)
2. The patient is the topic. When the sentence is about what happened to something rather than who did it, passive keeps the topic in subject position, where readers expect to find it:
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The suspect was arrested at 3 a.m. (the story is about the suspect)
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Three errors were discovered in the code. (the story is about the errors)
3. Scientific and academic conventions. Many disciplines prefer passive voice because it emphasizes the method and results rather than the researcher, creating an impression of objectivity:
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The samples were analyzed using spectroscopy.
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The data were collected over six months.
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Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions.
4. Maintaining information flow. Good writing connects each sentence to the one before it. Passive lets you place familiar, old information in the subject position and new information at the end, which is where readers naturally look for it:
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The report discussed several issues. These issues were identified by the committee during its annual review.
Here, these issues in the second sentence links back to several issues in the first. Active voice (The committee identified these issues...) would break that connection by putting new information (the committee) first.
5. Deliberate actor omission. Sometimes the actor is known but the writer chooses to obscure responsibility. This can be a legitimate rhetorical choice—or a manipulative one:
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Mistakes were made. (who made them is obscured)
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The funds were misallocated. (by whom?)
Recognizing this pattern is important for critical reading. When you see an actorless passive in political or corporate language, ask yourself: Who is being left out, and why?
When Active Voice Is Stronger.
When the actor is the point. If the identity of the doer matters, burying it in a by-phrase weakens the sentence:
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Weak: The decision was made by the CEO.
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Stronger: The CEO made the decision.
When passive creates confusion. Stacking passives or embedding them in complex sentences can make it hard to tell who is doing what:
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Confusing: The proposal was rejected by the committee that was formed by the board.
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Clearer: The committee that the board formed rejected the proposal.
When active is simply more direct. If there is no rhetorical reason for passive, active is almost always more concise and vigorous:
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Passive: The ball was kicked by the child.
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Active: The child kicked the ball.
Genre Conventions.
Different genres have different expectations for voice. Knowing these conventions helps you make choices appropriate to your audience:
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Scientific writing: Heavy passive use is traditional (The solution was heated...), though many journals now accept or prefer active voice.
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Legal writing: Passive is common for stating rules and obligations (Payment shall be made within thirty days).
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Journalism: Active voice dominates because it is more direct and vivid, but passive appears when the patient is the story (Three people were injured...).
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Business writing: Style guides generally recommend active voice for clarity, but passive appears frequently in policy documents.
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Academic writing: Varies by discipline. Sciences lean passive; humanities lean active.
The Myth of "Always Use Active Voice".
The advice to avoid passive voice appears in nearly every writing handbook, often stated as an absolute. But the best writers in every genre use passive voice regularly—they just use it for reasons, not by accident. The goal is not to eliminate passive but to choose it deliberately. A paragraph full of passive sentences will feel flat and evasive. A paragraph full of active sentences will feel monotonous and may obscure important information flow. The skilled writer alternates, using each voice where it serves the reader best.
When you revise your own writing, do not ask “Is this passive?” Ask instead: “Is the subject of this sentence the most important participant for the reader right now?” If yes, the voice is doing its job—whether active or passive.
