I appreciate the advice to avoid the passive voice. I work at an organization where that is a relatively ruthlessly enforced rule, and that’s a good thing. But I think there are exceptions, such as where the thing-being-acted-on is what we follow from sentence to sentence as it is acted on by multiple agents. Ideally English could have verbs that let me write the sentence in active voice anyway, but sometimes this makes things unreadable at the paragraph level. The Atlantic has a piece on this that gives several examples.
I don’t think most writers are anywhere near ready to hear advice that subtle, but if you find yourself facing this problem, I suggest at minimum making sure the sentences all contain and clearly identify the agent even if that agent is not the grammatical subject.
Sometimes the passive voice is more graceful or effective. In those cases, you can avoid the trouble that passive voice usually causes if you explicitly add the grammatically-optional subject.
For instance: “Insider information was unwisely tweeted by Elon.” By using the passive verb “was tweeted” you change the order, and therefore the relative emphasis, of “insider information” and “Elon” in a way that may be appropriate to what you’re trying to communicate. But by explicitly adding “by Elon” you successfully resist the temptation to leave the subject unstated, and thereby save the day for clarity and precision.
I cover that in my advanced “technical writing in one easy lesson” class ;-)
I appreciate the advice to avoid the passive voice. I work at an organization where that is a relatively ruthlessly enforced rule, and that’s a good thing. But I think there are exceptions, such as where the thing-being-acted-on is what we follow from sentence to sentence as it is acted on by multiple agents. Ideally English could have verbs that let me write the sentence in active voice anyway, but sometimes this makes things unreadable at the paragraph level. The Atlantic has a piece on this that gives several examples.
I don’t think most writers are anywhere near ready to hear advice that subtle, but if you find yourself facing this problem, I suggest at minimum making sure the sentences all contain and clearly identify the agent even if that agent is not the grammatical subject.
Sometimes the passive voice is more graceful or effective. In those cases, you can avoid the trouble that passive voice usually causes if you explicitly add the grammatically-optional subject.
For instance: “Insider information was unwisely tweeted by Elon.” By using the passive verb “was tweeted” you change the order, and therefore the relative emphasis, of “insider information” and “Elon” in a way that may be appropriate to what you’re trying to communicate. But by explicitly adding “by Elon” you successfully resist the temptation to leave the subject unstated, and thereby save the day for clarity and precision.
I cover that in my advanced “technical writing in one easy lesson” class ;-)