Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Choose the active voice or the passive voice, depending on your writing situation
Prefer active verbs
Clarity

✵ 8 Active verbs

✵ 9 Parallel ideas

✵ 10 Needed words

✵ 11 Mixed constructions

✵ 12 Misplaced and dangling modifiers

✵ 13 Shifts

✵ 14 Emphasis

✵ 15 Variety

✵ 16 Wordy sentences

✵ 17 Appropriate language

✵ 18 Exact words

o GLOSSARY OF USAGE

8Prefer active verbs.

Choose an active verb whenever possible. Active verbs express meaning more vigorously than forms of the verb be or verbs in the passive voice. Forms of be (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) lack vigor because they convey no action. Passive verbs lack strength because their subjects receive the action instead of doing it.

Even among active verbs, some are more vigorous and colorful than others. Carefully selected verbs can energize a piece of writing.

ACADEMIC WRITING Although you may be tempted to avoid the passive voice completely, keep in mind that some situations call for it, including some scientific writing. For appropriate uses of the passive voice, see 8a; for advice about forming the passive voice, see 28b.

8a Choose the active voice or the passive voice, depending on your writing situation.

In the active voice, the subject does the action; in the passive voice, the subject receives the action. Although both voices are grammatically correct, the active voice is usually more effective because it is clearer and more direct.

In passive sentences, the actor (in this case, Hernando) frequently does not appear: The fly ball was caught.

Most of the time, you will want to emphasize the actor, so you should use the active voice. To replace a passive verb with an active one, make the actor the subject of the sentence.

Appropriate uses of the passive voice

The passive voice is appropriate if you want to emphasize the receiver of the action or to minimize the importance of the actor. The writer of the following sentence, for example, wished to emphasize the people affected by the earthquake.

Many Hawaiians were forced to leave their homes after the earthquake.

In much scientific writing, the passive voice properly emphasizes the experiment or process being described, not the researcher. Check with your instructor for the preference in your discipline.

Just before harvest, the tobacco plants are sprayed with a chemical to prevent the growth of suckers.