For writers, one of the fundamental maxims is "Avoid the passive voice."

What is passive voice?

Passive voice is simply putting the Object of the sentence at the beginning, where the subject normally is:

• The Raider was shot by Starbuck instead of Starbuck shot the Raider.

Passive voice often uses the past participle of the verb with a "To be". The word "By"is often hanging around to identify the real subject. Because of that "Was", Passive voice can be confused with the past tense that writers often use in fiction. It can also be confused with the uncommon past progressive used when two actions occur in the past:

• "I was walking down the sidewalk when I saw the dollar bill" is past progressive tense.

• The sidewalk was walked on by me is just plain awful.

What’s Wrong with Passive Voice:

• It’s Wordy- In both of the examples above, you can see how passive voice uses more words to say the same thing.

• It’s Distancing- Passive voice distances your reader from the action.

• It’s Passive- For Frak’s sake, they put this in the NAME…Sentences written in Passive voice lie there, inert lumps of clay, while the subject sits over in the corner waiting for something to do.

When Is Passive Voice seen?:
Passive voice is seen often in two different situations: When you don’t want to have to accept blame and if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Passive voice is often used in student writing and Business writing by writers who aren’t sure of themselves or their subject matter:

• The report was written by committee. The Errors were included by accident. Resposibility wasn’t taken by anyone in particular.

• The Battle of the Alamo was fought by Texans. In Texas? They were killed by Santa Ana. Maybe?

Passive voice is also used when the subject is unknown:

• The Bomb was planted under the bridge sometime after midnight.

• The Baseball was thrown through the living room window.

• So you can use passive voice if you don’t want to be blamed for your writing, or if you don’t know what you’re writing about.

How do you eradicate the pernicious threat of Passive Voice?

You should be on general alert for the passive voice: It creeps up everywhere. Watch out for the words "Was" and "By" appearing too close together. But there are two areas in your writing you should be especially wary of, Exposition and flashbacks.

• Fashbacks- If you’re already writing a passage in the past tense, and are now moving to a passage that is “more past,” it is easy to slip into the passive voice.

• Exposition- Like flashbacks, exposition forces you to step outside the main story and provide info that is not part of the flow of action. And again, this natural distancing can cause you to use the passive voice.