Passive

Question

Hi, I like to know where should we use Passive voice. I always get confiuse.  Please suggest

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Passive voice is generally used when the agent (the noun doing the action) is unimportant or irrelevant or unknown.

'The soldier was killed in action.' -- we don't know who killed him, but the important thing is that he died, not which enemy soldier did it.

Passive is often used in scientific and similar papers, where we wish to describe the activity, but it is unimportant who does it: 'The rat is placed into a V7a maze and released. Corn has previously been deposited at the maze exit. The rat's movements are charted on a log-log graph.' etc.

Do not overuse the passive; it quickly becomes boring, and does not move the action along dynamically. If you find that you need to include the agent (in a 'by' phrase -- 'the cat was killed by the neighbor's dog'), then you should probably think about using active voice instead.

Does that help?

Just the truth · Answer

If you find that you need to include the agent (in a 'by' phrase -- 'the cat was killed by the neighbor's dog'), then you should probably think about using active voice instead.

JT: I believe that the passive is also used because the subject is the focus, the subject is the important thing/person under discussion. So, even if an agent is mentioned, that seen as the important one will remain as the subject.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Actually, I was thinking about that as I wrote the sentence, JTT. To my mind, we have two loci of focus (foci loci?)-- the subject and 'end focus', where we put emphasis and bring in new information.

When I was writing 'the cat was killed by the neighbor's dog', it occurred to me that I probably did want that agent, and that when I chose that passive, it was because I wanted the agent at the end, where it draws focus. I am particularly interested in how the cat died, am I not?

If we write 'the neighbor's dog killed the cat', I seem-- as you say-- to be talking more about the dog's activities, as a response, perhaps, to 'well, what has the neighbor's dog been up to today, darling?'

Discounting for the moment (as we do a lot here) that a native speaker is liable to blurt out either the active or the passive upon finding Tabby shredded into fur strips, do you think that if we include the agent in the passive, it is because of its importance (hence subject loses focus) and if we omit it, it is because of its unimportance (hence the subject gains focus)?

Just the truth · Answer

Discounting for the moment (as we do a lot here) that a native speaker is liable to blurt out either the active or the passive upon finding Tabby shredded into fur strips, do you think that if we include the agent in the passive, it is because of its importance (hence subject loses focus) and if we omit it, it is because of its unimportance (hence the subject gains focus)?

JT: My guess, my feeling is, Mr M, that if it's my Tabby, I might tend to place her/him in subject position;

My cat was killed by that ...

But immediately, I see that if the focus shifts, say in a discussion with the neighbour whose animal offended, then

That *** damned dog of yours killed my Tabby.

I guess my overall point is that there are language circumstances where the passive is the better structure. But pinning those situations down to specifics is fraught with difficulty.

So, I'm not at all certain if I agree or disagree with your last contention. How about if I sit the fence on this one?

Mister Micawber · Answer

I'll join you.

Sunitathapliyal · Answer

I believe we should use Active voice instead of passive. If object is important than we can use Passive.

Thanks..

Passive

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