# Active vs. Passive Verbs



## kitreshawn (Nov 29, 2009)

One thing a lot of people hear about writing is that you should use active verbs.  I am sure this is still advice that has been given many times.  But is this always the case?

A better question is why does voice matter?  The answer is actually very simple: the type of voice you use (active or passive) impact a piece very differently and leave different impressions on the reader.

Active verbs reveal who is doing what.  The main character sees a man.  That man wears a jacket.  They stare at each other.  Even objects can perform these types of actions: the jacket flutters in the wind.  Dead leaves litter the ground.

By contrast passive verbs are what happens when someone receives an action: His flesh was frozen by the snow.  Now if you look at that example sentence it is actually very good... and in the passive voice!  But if I said something like "The jacket was worn by the man" it is much less clean ("The man wore the jacket" being much better).  Why is this?

This is actually vital to understand because a properly used passive verb can have much more of an impact than an active verb if you know what you are doing.  In fact, it is possible to use a lot of passive verbs and still have a very compelling story.  It is an important writing tool and good writers make good choices between active and passive voice.

"The night was loaded with omens" is the passive voice and could be written just as well "Omens loaded the night" but this use of active voice is very unsatisfying and unflattering to both the night and the omens, to say nothing of the meaning and music of the story.

The thing to keep in mind here is what passive verbs do: they call attention to the receiver of the action.  This makes them very useful for several tasks:

-Portraying victims.  The victim does nothing, instead things are forced upon them.
-Showing conflict (one group does and one group is done to)
-Tool dialogue (a weasel politician says "It must be admitted that mistakes were made" instead of "I admit I made a mistake")

There is actually a very easy way to determine if you need an active verb or a passive one that works (in my experience) in most cases:

-Active Verbs should be used when you are moving the action of the story forward and are focusing on the actors.
-Passive verbs emphasize the receiver, the victim.
-Use the verb forms to be (am, were, are, is, being, been, was...) to link word and ideas.

And as always trust your ear and break the rule whenever it causes more problems than it solves.


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## Atrak (Nov 29, 2009)

*shrug* You can choose active/passive based on what you want your subject and focus of the sentence to be. Like your 





> "The night was loaded with omens"


 vs. 





> "Omens loaded the night"


 example. The first is better because you're more interested in the night than the omens.


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## Stratelier (Nov 29, 2009)

I was expecting a discussion thread, not an essay.  Very pleasant to be surprised


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## Altamont (Nov 29, 2009)

I've always been a fan of breaking conventiosn, and it always excites me to see an inventive writer breaking the "norm" to spice up his narrative style. This Passive vs. Active verbs topic is a perfect example. So many of us are told: "NEVER use passive verbs!!!" (At least I know I was". However, as I've grown as a writer and storyteller, I've found that passive verbs can indeed be a refreshing change to the narrative pace. Even small scentences can be completely changed.

Ex.

The light blinded him.

He was blinded by the light.

The first version is a fairly bland statement of an event. The second evokes imagery that is iconic and compelling (I think so, at least).


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