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Passive voice, or rather, avoiding it, is something we've all had drilled into our heads since at least the seventh grade. And yet I used it just now. It would have been better if I'd said something like, "Our schoolteachers, since at least the seventh grade, have drilled into our heads that we should avoid passive voice." Right they were; passive voice weakens a sentence, plus you use that damn "be" verb. Here's a brief recap in case anyone actually doesn't remember this. Passive voice: "It was drilled into our heads." Active voice: "She drilled it into our heads." Better, yes? Sometimes passive voice is necessary, but as a general rule, I prefer to avoid it. I'm not doing a very good job here. Oh well, there wasn't that much to say about it anyway. Perhaps I should teach by example and refer you to the various writing sections of the site. My Kinky People stories, nonfiction stories, and ARSEs are examples of my best writing (perhaps not some of the older KP ones, but whatever). I edit those fairly heavily before posting them, and I try to avoid passive voice in them. It sneaks in all over the damn place, though. Avoid it. Edit it out. It's subtle, but its absence will strengthen your writing. |