Active vs passive

A passive verb is a form of be followed by the past participle of a verb. (The past participle is the past-tense verb preceded by some form of have. For example, He has walked home.) In passive voice:

• The subject is the goal of the action—the subject is the direct object of the verb.
• The agent, or doer, of the action is either omitted or after the verb in a by phrase.

Passive verbs can make the sentence feel flat, especially if the characters are abstractions, the actions are nominalizations, or there are no flesh-and-blood characters. However, there are some circumstances in which passive verbs are the right choice.

Does the doer matter?

In some cases, the doer of the action is not important. For example:

Active

The voters reelected the mayor last Tuesday.

Passive

The mayor was reelected last Tuesday.

In the previous sentences, the action is “reelected”, and the doer is the voters. However, the voter is not what is important—it is important that the mayor was reelected. The passive construction keeps the main character in the subject of the sentence, which makes the most sense to the reader.

Sentence transitions

When explaining complex information, the beginning gives the reader context for what comes next. In other words, a sentence should start with familiar information, and the end should introduce new information. You can use passive voice to move long, unfamiliar, or complex information to the end of the sentence:

Active

We must believe in one another to win the championship. The hardships that we endure as a team will strengthen our belief.

Passive

We must believe in one another to win the championship. Our belief will be strengthened with each hardship that we endure as a team.

In the passive construction, “belief” is familiar to the writer. The passive will be strengthened lets us put “belief” in the subject of the sentence, which helps the transition between sentences.

Consistent character

To tell a better story, you need to be consistent with your character. That might require that you use passive tense to keep the character in the subject of the sentence and maintain a consistent point of view.

Active

The Chicago Bulls defeated the Portland Trailblazers during the NBA Finals. Michael Jordan dominated Clyde Drexler throughout the series, and he led them to another title.

Passive

The Portland Trailblazers were defeated by the Chicago Bulls during the NBA Finals. Clyde Drexler was dominated by Michael Jordan throughout the series.

If you are telling the story from the perspective of the Chicago Bulls, the active construction works best. However, if you are telling the story from the perspective of the Portland Trailblazers, passive is appropriate.