A New Approach to Teaching
Active and Passive Voice
Population
Secondary and college writing students who are studying persuasive writing.
Rationale
None of our students is likely to write in the passive voice quite as dramatically as acclaimed French Author Raymond Queneau used in his Exercises in Style (1981). In this text, he wrote poetic versions of a conflict between two men on a bus in France, including this passive selection:
It was midday. The bus was being got into by passengers.
They were being squashed together. A hat was being worn
on the head of a young gentlemen...A long neck was one of
the characteristics of the young gentlemen. The man standing
next to him was being grumbled at by the latter because of the
jostling which was being inflicted on him by him. As soon as a
vacant seat was espied by the young gentlemen it was made the
object of his precipitate movements and it became sat down upon (72).
Queneau took poetic license and wrote passively purposely, and the result shows his subjects: the bus, the seat, and the male rider as recipients of the action, rather than agents of it. Like most writers, Queneau chose his words for effect, which, in his creative piece, resulted in labored writing for readers to sort through. Since most writing is meant for readers, writers, particularly students learning to write argumentatively, need to recognize the impact of their words on their readers.
When grading compositions, instructors notice when student writers rely heavily on the passive (rather than active) voice, suggesting low audience awareness of how to make choices whether to use active or passive voice as what Aristotle deemed a “means of persuasion” (qtd. in On Rhetoric). The goal in most core writing courses is for students to shift from “writer-...to reader-based prose” (Flower 235). Such prose shows writers mindful consideration of their readers. Most of us have heard that active voice is “good,” and passive voice is “bad,” but a closer look reveals rhetorical purposes for both. How do we convince our students to make wise decisions about occasions to use either active or passive voice for rhetorical reasons?
Goal
From active and passive voice instruction comes an increased rhetorical awareness in students’ writing.
Definitions
By definition, the “voice of a verb tells whether the subject of the sentence performs the action or is acted upon” (Fowler and Aaron 242). Active voice involves agents performing the action using action verbs (e.g., Protesters unified their efforts to pass the regulation.). Passive voice involves disguised, unknown, or relocated agents acted upon by “to be” and past participle verbs (e.g., Votes are counted by the volunteers). Helping verbs may also exist in passive expressions (e.g., Votes have been counted by the volunteers.) As shown in some passive expressions, the agent (volunteers) appears as an object in a prepositional phrase (by the volunteers). Some passive expressions contain no agent (e.g., Votes are counted), indicating that it is unknown, unimportant, or unreported.
Pedagogy
Active and Passive Voice
A. Overview
Introduce the topic of active/passive voice as a means of persuasion.
Questions for Discussion
· What are the features of active voice? passive voice?
· What are the advantages of using active voice? passive voice?
· What are the disadvantages of using active voice? passive voice?
Questions for discussion: 1) How do writers use active and passive voice purposefully?
2) Which occasions or arguments call for active or passive voice?
Using responses to these questions, develop a table or distribute Table 1 that shows prepared responses to these questions.
B. Features and Uses
Table 1 emphasizes the features of active and passive voice. Once writers situate their writing, they can make choices as to whether or not it is advantageous or disadvantageous to use active or passive voice, given the contexts.
Voice
Features
Advantages
Disadvantages
C. Rhetorical Purposes
Introduce the five rhetorical purposes that allow student writers to determine when to use active or passive voice in their writing.
1. Arguing from quantity; supports active voice
Their Eyes were Watching God was written by Zora Neale Hurston. (passive voice sentence of 11 words)
Zora Neale Hurston wrote Their Eyes were Watching God. (active voice sentence of 9 words)
Rhetorical Purpose: Concise sentences with fewer words are more accessible and engaging to readers.
2. Arguing from definition; supports active voice
By definition, passive voice contains weaker “to be” verbs, and active voice contains stronger action verbs.
A Thanksgiving meal is being provided for the homeless by the students’ efforts.
Students coordinated an effort to provide a Thanksgiving meal for the homeless.
Rhetorical Purpose: Preceding action verbs, the agents are in a recognized position of performing the action.
3. Arguing from a position of emphasis; supports either active or passive voice
In the making of a joke, the punchline is in the position of emphasis. The adage, “People tend to remember best what they hear last” certainly applies to jokes as well as the final words or phrases in sentences in writing.
As I backed out of the driveway, a small brick wall encountered my car.
As I backed out of the driveway, I hit a brick wall.
Rhetorical purpose: By placing the brick wall in the position of emphasis, writers can either choose passive or active voice depending on the effect they are trying to achieve.
4. Arguing to conceal or reveal the agent; supports either active or passive voice.
Concealment:
A politician argues, “Mistakes were made”
An usher warns, “If you do not cease talking in the movie theatre, you will be asked to leave.”
Revelation:
A politician argues, “Our office personnel made mistakes in the accounting.”
An usher warns, “If you do not cease talking in the movie theatre, I will ask you to leave.”
Rhetorical purpose: To suppress or promote the agent’s responsibility.
5. Arguing that the agent is unimportant, unknown, or unreported; supports passive voice.
In given contexts, passive voice is appropriate in writing or speaking:
1. Agent is unimportant Ex. The poems were collected for the creative writing
contest.
2. Agent is unknown Ex. The university buildings were constructed in 1946.
3. Agent is better left unsaid Ex. The textbooks were sold to the wrong class
Rhetorical Purpose: To place the subject acted upon before the verb to emphasize its importance, rather than the agent.
D. Practice Exercises
Literature
First, students can read the literary practice sentences and identify the voice as either active or passive. Next, they can identify appropriate rhetorical purposes (refer to section III, part C) and situate the practice sentences into contexts. Finally, they can practice converting the verbs from passive to active (requires either the invention or relocation of an agent) or from active to passive (requires omitting the agent or relocating it to the object of preposition position) to determine the best construction that fulfills their purpose.
Example
Outlined below is an example to show a writer’s process of identifying the “voice” that fulfills
his rhetorical purpose for a literary essay.
1. The writer reads this sample sentence and notes the passive phrase.
Some of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies were written by him after the death of his young son Hamnet.
2. A writer selects rhetorical purpose number three: Arguing from a position of emphasis. Let’s assume that he is writing a narrative of Shakespeare’s motives and background for writing his comedies. Thus, he decides to place the Bard, rather than his works, in the position of emphasis to showcase him as the agent.
3. The writer converts the passive phrase to an active one to fulfill his rhetorical purpose. Thus, he uses the following sentence in his writing:
Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest tragedies after the death of his young son Hamnet.
E. Practice Literary Sentences
Annotations: The literary sentences refer primarily to rhetorical purposes one and two. Questions to discuss: (1) How can the sentences become more effective? (fewer words? addition of action verbs? relocation of the agent?); (2) Which rhetorical purposes do they serve for you, the writers?
1. Listening to Rita Dove recite her poetry had the effect of inspiring me to write a few stanzas.
2. In Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, the death of Ted Lavender, a soldier in his platoon, is something that Lt. Cross takes the blame for.
3. Westminster Abbey is the place where busts of famous literary figures are found.
4. Poets, novelists, and essayists were expected to attend the Booksellers’ Convention.
5. I have a dream speech was delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during turbulent time in the Civil Rights Era.
F. Writing Application
Now that students are familiar with the basic features and uses for active/passive voice, create a persuasive writing assignment for students to practice application. For instance, students can persuade (purpose) a local literary society (audience) holding an essay (genre) contest, why particular African Americans are cultural heroes/heroines. Discuss how purpose, audience, and genre govern the choices of active/passive voice in their essays. To illustrate, a student chooses to reveal the agent by placing her (Maya Angelou) in a position of emphasis:
Maya Angelou, the iconic African American poet, wrote a variety of novels and poems with a tone of optimism toward the act of overcoming cultural barriers.
Her name appears in front of the verb; therefore, she acts as agent in a position of strength and emphasis. This is appropriate for the rhetorical purpose of showing Angelou’s influence that lead her to heroine status in the literary United States.
Thus, student writers can continue their essays with more awareness of matching active/passive voice to their purposes.
*Refer to website: WritingInstructor.com under “Classroom Archives” for samples sentences in history, science, legal, and governmental subjects.
G. Application Using a “Style and Grammar Checker”
Most word processing programs have a spelling and grammar component that highlights passive voice phrases in writing to provide opportunities for student writers to alter them. In addition, they can follow these steps to determine the percentage of passive phrases, then ask themselves, “Why are 50% of my sentences passive? Why are 50% of my sentences active? They can recognize the number of passive voices, then set goals to decrease the number if they are not serving their purposes. Following are steps for a Microsoft Word software program used to detect readability statistics and passive phrases:
·Click on Tools
· Click on Options
· Click on Spelling and Grammar
· Place check marks in boxes for these 3 areas: a. Check grammar as you type; b. check grammar with spelling; c. Show readability statistics
· Select writing style: Formal
· Close screen
· Click Tools on toolbar
· Click Spelling and Grammar
· Note Readability Statistics: Readability and percentage of passive sentences.
Works Cited
Flower, Linda. Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing. 4th ed. California: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993.
Fowler, H. Ramsey & Jane E. Aaron. The Little Brown Handbook. 5th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Kennedy, George. Aristotle on Rhetoric: A Theory of Civil Discourse. New York: Oxford, 1991.
Queneau, Raymond. Exercises in Style. Trans. Barbara Wright. New York: New Directions, 1981.