The Passive Voice- it's not so bad afterall... By Callum Shakespeare     Those obsessed with grammatical correctness will always tell you ‘purge the passive voice’. And in many ways they are correct- there are things to avoid. But the passive voice does have its uses. Being Vague The passive voice is a useful tool when you want to avoid saying who is responsible for an action. This could be used both in dialogue and narrative text.   In dialogue you may want your characters to speak politely and/or tactfully. “It is not permitted to go in there.” (Passive) "Agent Sanders will not allow you in there.” (Active) The first example is passive because the subject of the sentence (it) is not doing the action. In this instance by using the passive voice, your character is perhaps telling a distraught family member that he/she is not allowed into the crime scene without saying who is responsible. This is tactful as the family member cannot then go and complain, as they do not know who made the rule.   At times you may want to be purposefully vague. You may not want to give away who did something. The apartment was left in a terrible mess. (Passive) The killer left the apartment in a terrible mess. (Active) The above statement in the passive voice does not tell the reader who left the apartment in a mess. On the other hand, the second statement leaves no doubt that it was the killer. The passive voice prevented you from having to name the culprit.  Someone left the apartment in a terrible mess. (Active) If you used this example, although not pointing the finger, it would be obvious that you are trying to be vague and thus, less effective.   Clarity It is important in your writing to make sure you are attributing states/things to the right objects and people. Look at the examples again. The apartment was left in a terrible mess. (Passive) The killer left the apartment in a terrible mess. (Active) There is a problem with the active voice here. Reading the statement you cannot be sure whether it was the apartment left in a mess, or the killer who was a mess when he left the apartment. The passive example leaves no doubt as to which one it was.   Choosing a focus The passive voice allows you to give attention to a particular subject. The firemen rescued the survivors of the car crash. (Active) The survivors of the car crash were rescued by the firemen. (Passive) In the active example the attention is on the firemen whereas in the passive, it is on the survivors. Which one to use depends on what you are talking about (the focus) in that paragraph. To make the focus clear make sure you put it first. If the focus is on the firemen use the active voice and if it is on the survivors use the passive voice. If you are using Microsoft Word it may flag the passive example as a grammatical error. But if your focus is first just click ignore.