When Passive Voice is Preferred

When and why passive voice may be chosen

The Voice that was Lost

Passive voice is generally condemned by those who teach writing these days. It is called stodgy, long-winded, and hard to understand. It is also derided as the natural tongue of bureaucrats with something to hide or an impulse to be seen as more important than they really are. But there are times when passive voice can be used to good effect, and when a line or passage may be hurt by active voice.

When the Result is to be Stressed

These thoughts were brought on by the following paragraph, which was written by Musharraf Ali Farooqi in his 2007 translation of Ghalib Lakhnavi and Abdullah Bilgrami’s Hamzanama or The Adventures of Amir Hamza:

“On either side of the rivulets that streamed through the garden were arrayed herons, cranes, ruddy geese, teals, and snipes in groups of two. The branches and boughs of the taller trees were wrapped in silk tissue sacks — white and golden and green. At ever step octagonal terraces of marble, alabaster, and veined jet met the eye. Before every terrace were basins filled with rose water, essence of musk, and keora water. In the middle of the basins were jets d’eau and fountains, with their golden and silver spouts mounted with nightingales, ringdoves, and turtledoves carved out of gems. The spray jetting out from between their feathers and wings was a most ravishing sight, which soothed the eyes and gladdened the heart.”

What can be noted in this passage is the absence of actors, the slaves and servants by whom all these wonders are arranged, presented, and put together for the delight of the rulers. Normally the active voice is preferred because the actors are important, and so are placed first in the sentence:

Actor(1) Does(2) Something(3)

Where a given element is placed in a line, whether at (1) or (2) or (3) is understood to mark its importance. What is placed at (1) is taken to be most important, more than what is heard at (3), and what is buried at (2) is understood to be given the lowest rank of the three.

Our first rule of passive voice, then is easily grasped:

One. Where the actor is insignificant, passive voice may be preferred.

This rule is exemplified in the passage taken from The Adventures of Amir Hamza. The servants and slaves are considered so unimportant that their very names and titles have been stricken from the record, lost forever in the fogs of time. The wonders and riches are held to be most important.

The trash of words needed to complete the sentence structure can be seen as dull bits, spoken in casual tones, and used as timing devices, so that pauses and breathes may be taken in between the loudly-voiced, stressed words in which the wonders are named.

Done by Whom?

Mysteries can also be helped by use of the passive voice. In mysteries, the actor is considered important, but is identity must at times be withheld:

At 7:10 in the evening on the night of July 8, three shots were fired in Abingdon Furriers. The police were summoned and the body of Josiah Abingdon was found on his office floor, dead.

The mystery would be given away if the above were put in active voice: it would mean the murderer’s name would be included in the opening sentence. The identity of who called the police, and of who found the body, may be offered later on as important to the tale and the mystery’s solution, or they may be dropped entirely as insignificant bystanders.

The passage could be retold and ‘three shots rang out’ given in place of ‘were fired’ so that the first sentence could be made to fit the ‘no passive voice’ edict. But maybe the shots would then be seen as actors, oddly enough, in and of themselves, as in —

Three bullets tore through the air and plunged deep into Josiah Abingdon

— which can be given for an active, dramatic, ‘punchy’ opening, but which can also be seen as not merely odd but wrong: emphasis placed upon the bullets here, is emphasis misplaced, and the bullets are given too great an importance for the part played.

The second rule of passive voice, then, may be stated as:

Two. Where the actors’ identities are to be withheld, passive voice may be preferred.

Variety May Also be Invoked

Variety in talesmanship, as in all arts, is rightly esteemed as the spice through which a tale is enriched and enlivened.

By this it can be seen that prose filled with nothing but active lines may be considered wearisome. The third rule of passive voice may be stated as:

Three. Passive voice may be used when relief is sought from too many active lines.

Weakness Can be Implied in Characters

The desires and urges of a weak or passive character are better not expressed by forthright, active lines. Here the actor is not deemed as insignificant; he might even be held out to be the tale’s hero. But his nature has been formed such that he is approached by his desires, and taken by his urges, and they can’t be said to be taken up and used by him. In this way such characters may be subtly and effectively distinguished from their more active fellows.

So the fourth rule of passive voice may be stated:

Four. When a weak or passive character’s desires and mindset are told in the passive voice, his nature can be given through the structure of the lines itself, and passive voice may be chosen as the best way to do this.

Hidden by the Fog

Passive voice is scorned most of all by those by whom vagueness in language is considered a great crime. But sometimes vagueness is the very thing desired in a line or a passage. Sometimes bold and direct statements are not called for or wanted.

The fifth rule of passive voice may be given as:

Five. Passive voice may be preferred when vagueness or obscurity is desired in a line or passage.

Wanted, Done, or Thought by All

The last best use of passive voice is found in those lines where the actors are not only unknown, but unknowable. General classes of men are included in this kind of line, as in

“Passive voice is considered weak when compared to active voice.”

Or in somewhat more concrete terms the line may be recast:

“Passive voice is condemned by those who teach writing as weaker and less effective than active voice.”

Here the names of those teachers are omitted, they are cast as members of a general class of writing teachers or are not even named as a class. The opinion is let to hang about in the air as though held by all. Another example:

It was widely known that an attack was planned; in fact it was the main thing that was feared.

In this line it can be seen how this ‘general’ actor can be compared closely to the actor deemed insignificant. What is considered important here is the plan for attack, and the fear engendered by the threat of that attack. But unlike the insignificant actor, the general actor could hardly be named even if doing so were considered desirable.

The line could be recast as

Everybody knew an attack was planned; it was the main thing they feared.

— but too much stress could be said to be placed on ‘everybody’ and too little on the fear and the attack. In the passive voice version, when those who feel the fear are not named, their dread is seen by the audience as a more palpable thing, as if the knowledge, the expectation, and the fear of the attack were being done to the ‘everybody’ who held them, like unseen toxins breathed in with the air.

The sixth rule of passive voice can be stated as

Six. When a general class of men, or all men, are considered, their opinions may best be given in the passive voice.

It May be Used Sometimes

Passive voice has been stigmatized as a great taboo, a form of phrasing never to be used. But here six kinds of lines have been shown where passive voice by be used to good effect, and may indeed be preferred to the active voice. Readers are not always confused by passive voice, and lines are not always ‘fogged’ when they are told in the passive voice. Sometimes lines in the passive voice can be easily understood.

And yet active voice can and should be used in most lines and in most writing and tales. It may even be said that active voice is to be generally preferred, and taken by the talesman as his default or normal way of phrasing. Then the passive voice is held in reserve, to be drawn out and used only now and then, when called for by the specific context and circumstances on hand.

(Composed with pen on paper Thursday, February 28, 2008)