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Verbs are also said to be
either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the active voice, the
subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a
do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive voice, the subject of
the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some otheragent or by something unnamed (The new
policy was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive
voice construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active
construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if
you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below).
Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions
tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.
We find an overabundance of the
passive voice in sentences created by self-protective business interests,
magniloquent educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of
this accusation), who use the passive
voice to avoid responsibility for actions taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children"
places the burden on the ads — as opposed to "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially
to children," in which "we" accepts responsibility. At a White
House press briefing we might hear that "The President was advised that
certain members of Congress were being audited" rather than "The Head
of the Internal Revenue service advised the President that her agency was
auditing certain members of Congress" because the passive construction
avoids responsibility for advising and for auditing. One further caution about
the passive voice: we should not mix active and passive constructions in the
same sentence: "The executive committee approved the new policy, and the calendar for
next year's meetings was
revised" should be recast as "The executive committee approved the new policy and revised the calendar for next year's
meeting."
Take the quiz (below) as an
exercise in recognizing and changing passive verbs.
The passive voice does exist
for a reason, however, and its presence is not always to be despised. The
passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:
·
When it is more important to
draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was
apparently struck during the
early morning hours.
·
When the actor in the situation
is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.
The passive voice is especially
helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or
lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or
principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I
poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive
voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the
details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility
for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid
rinse."
We use the passive voice to
good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes
the subject in subsequent sentences.
The
executive committee approved an entirely new policy for
dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had
been written by
a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work
before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW"
. . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so
it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the
first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice
allows for this transition.†
Passive Verb Formation
The passive forms of a verb are
created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past
participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present:
"The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various
tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."
Tense
|
Subject
|
Auxiliary
|
Past | |
Participle
Singular
Plural
Present
The car/cars
Is
are
designed.
Present perfect
The car/cars
has been
have been
designed.
Past
The car/cars
Was
were
designed.
Past perfect
The car/cars
had been
had been
designed.
Future
The car/cars
will be
will be
designed.
Future perfect
The car/cars
will have been
will have been
designed.
Present progressive
The car/cars
is being
are being
designed.
Past progressive
The car/cars
was being
were being
designed.
A sentence cast in the passive
voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a
gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a
perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when
an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the
indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:
Active
|
Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
|
Passive
|
An A was
given to Jorge by
Professor Villa.
|
Passive
|
Jorge was
given an A.
|
Only transitive verbs (those
that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore,
active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive
structures. To have is the most important of these verbs.
We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is
had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot
say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:
resemble
|
look like
|
equal
|
agree with
|
mean
|
contain
|
hold
|
comprise
|
lack
|
suit
|
fit
|
become
|
Verbals in Passive Structures
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the
passive voice. An infinitive
phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions
within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).
·
Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.
·
Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.
·
Modifier: Grasso was the first
woman to be elected governor in her own right.
The same is true of passive gerunds.
·
Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.
·
Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.
·
Object of preposition: I am so
tired of being lectured to by my boss.
With passive
participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result
being a simple modifying participial phrase.
·
[Having been] designed
for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved
highways.
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