Passively Active - Part 2 “Mistakes were made, but let’s focus on steps to improve” Now, how about when you’re writing a piece about which you feel very strongly. It could be a paper on pollution, corruption, or even talking about someone you don’t like. Be objective. Objectivity can hide your subjectivity, and this is useful, especially if you’re in the legal services or business. Passive voice helps you do this simply because it sounds more formal: Active: “The X company polluted the nearby river unabiding with environmental policies set by the government” So, are you now going to protest outside the company? A statement like this brings us closer to emotional appeal, leading us to believe that it's the writer’s opinion. Passive: “The local river was purported to have been polluted by X Company…” Yes it sounds wordy and more complex, but it works. It changes the tone, subject and takes away the responsibility of the writer to 1) give an unbiased appraisal of the situation, and 2) shows that the case hasn’t been proven yet by the court. Heard of being impartial and unbiased? You just need to browse news websites such as the BBC to observe how the passive voice distances the readership with the corporation’s own political angles. An organisation that prides itself on impartiality is still held to public scrutiny based on journalistic content, what’s not said and what’s reported on, which in the long run lays bare a political leaning or bias. Therefore, passive voice helps to maintain distance but with authority bringing the sense of authenticity while reducing sensationalism. This leads us to the ultimate question of how to decide which voice to use? Well, the best way is to ask yourself some more questions, such as: Do I want to distance the piece emotionally from the reader? Do I want to focus on the action or the subject? Do I want to express my opinions without being direct? Does the paper require conversational or authoritative tone?

Passively Active - Part 1 When you can, write in an active voice. This is the maxim we hear when learning the English language. Active gives voice, opinion, bears all. It avoids verbosity and takes away the clunkiness that business reports, essays or narrative writing comes with. Enerst Hemingway, the esteemed American writer, infamous for his brutally reductionist story telling, was not a fan of passive voice. Flip through any of his writing and you’ll notice that description, grammar and emotion is kept to the bare minimum. For example, in The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway’s description, ‘It was a fine morning’, says almost nothing and everything at the same time; the minimalist phrase lets the reader insert their own experiences of what a ‘fine morning’ is to them without having to imagine what a fine morning is for the character. The same with the active voice; it economises description but says a lot more, in a lot less. But what if passive voice is more useful and more cunning than we initially realise? Firstly, it depends on your audience. Secondly, it’s about what you want to say, and how you want to say it. Active: You must make some improvements. Passive: Some improvements are needed to be made by you. The convoluted passive statement sounds awkward, even cumbersome compared to the active statement. Yet, in some ways, using passive voice is a lesson in being tactful - and I’m sure we can all improve on that. Let’s have a look: “You made a mistake.” It’s direct, plain and simple, and in some cases a little tactless. Let’s imagine you’re giving an annual performance review to one of your colleagues. Your colleague made a mistake somewhere down the line and you have to inform them without causing offence or embarrassment, but at the same time have to let them know they can’t afford this mistake again.