Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Passive Voice

If you're having problems with passive voice in your manuscript, check out this article: Passive Voice. The article talks about five myths of passive voice.

1. Use of the passive voice constitutes as a grammatical error.
2. Any use of "to be" (in any form) constitutes as the passive voice
3. The passive voice always avoids the first person; if something is in first person ("I" or "we"), it's also in the active voice.
4. You should never use the passive voice.
5. I can rely on my grammar checker to catch the passive voice.


After the explanation as to why these are myths, the author goes in great detail explaining the passive voice.

Do you have any writing articles or links you'd like to share?

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for the article. I'm going to check it out now. =]

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  2. Thanks for the comment on my blog! Out of curiosity how did you find me? We have an opening over at www.passionatecritters.org for one more person. You should apply! We usually take a vote based on your personality and writing to see how you would fit in with the group. I've learned so much there!

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  3. Great post and link, thanks!

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  4. Great article! Thanks! I struggle with passive voice because there are appropriate places to use it. I think the key, like everything else, is not overdoing it!

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  5. Hi Lynnette, Thanks for the visit to my blog. As for your question, I use Site Meter to track how many readers I have per day. There are other programs out there, just do a google search. By the way, I'm your newest follower.

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  6. Great stuff! I don't have anything to share, but this is definitely helpful. Thanks!

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  7. I don't have a link either, but I'm glad you shared those points. Most people think using the word "was" is passive, and that's not always the case. :-)

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  8. Thank you for sharing this. I get tired of being told that the use of "to be" as the verb is passive voice, ungrammatical or inherently wrong. As a writer, you need to choose why and how you say a thing a particular way--even passive voice.

    I think I'll share that link on my blog as well, because it's an excellent link.

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  9. Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

    Jane Kennedy Sutton
    http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

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  10. I like "What Kate did Next" She is a blogger and writer who alwsys posts about writing.

    Synchronicity - my son's homework today had to do with active and passive voice.

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  11. headed there now! Thanks! I used the check on Word to see if my story is passive or not and am always surprised to find what isn't.

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  12. This is great advice. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. I'm glad you liked the article. I have more writing links to share in the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

    Lynnette Labelle

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