Writers Tip: Passive Voice

How do I recognize it (and fix it)?

“Was” does not equal passive voice.

“Was” is used in the past tense.

Passive voice is not the same as past tense.

Was is definitely acceptable in dialogue. In fact, much of natural dialogue is spoken in passive tense. "I was going to the store, and I was going to buy orange juice, you know, but I was on the wrong street, and I was kind of lost. Man, before I knew it, this guy jumped out of his car and I was, like, going to hit him. I slammed on the brakes, and I was skidding right at him."

Of course that is an exaggerated example, but you can hear the mood of the speaker, can't you? The same type of writing in the narrative gets tiring to the reader quickly.

Notice that the was is used with -ing words. This makes it the past progressive tense. And again, this is not passive voice. Past progressive tense is not passive voice.

So what is passive voice?

Passive voice is when something happens to the prominent person or object in the sentence instead of the prominent person or object doing something.

• The owner of the car was hit by a passing motorist. (passive)
•  A passing motorist hit the owner of the car. (active and the was disappeared)

• We were pelted by raindrops. (passive)
• Raindrops pelted us. (active, no were)

• The dog was alerted by the doorbell that someone had arrived. (passive)
• The doorbell alerted the dog to defend his territory. (active, no was, and the slight change in the POV character's interpretation of the dog's reaction makes it even more active.)

So you see, it isn't all in the wases and weres but also in the phrasing of other parts of the sentence.

The difference in "that someone had arrived" and "to defend his territory" is in the mental image the author has conjured up in the reader's mind. One is much more active than the other.

Keep all this in mind as well as the simple was and were check.

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