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| Boilerpipe Text | I wasnât intending on doing a series on various grammar points, but⌠People have been bringing up common misunderstandings in the comments, so Iâm still here, appreciating all the post ideas. *grin*
Last time, we talked about
the past perfect verb tense and how it helps us indicate to readers that a story event happened
before
the past tense of our novel. In the comments of that post, Kassandra Lamb (a frequent guest poster here) brought up
another verb tense that often causes issues
:
âPerhaps in some future post, you could clarify more about the past continuous tense. Itâs one of my pet peeves that editors and other authors too often assume that âI was eatingâ is passive voice. No, it indicates an ongoing activity.â
Yay for another great idea for a post! *smile* Especially as Iâve havenât talked much about passive voice here. Letâs talk about
what
passive voice
is and how to tell when the word
was
is
not
a sign of passive voice.
Why Should We Understand Passive Voice?
In school, we might have heard that passive voice is bad or to be avoided. And yes, that advice usually applies to story writing too.
What is passive voice and how can it cause problems in our story?
Share on X
Sentences in active voice are, wellâŚmore active for readers. They make actions clearer, help with showing our story, and are just plain easier to read.
That said, I wonât go so far as to call passive voice
bad
.
Every aspect of the English language, from adverbs and slang to future tense and passive voice, has its place in our writing-craft toolbox.
And sometimes it does make sense to write in passive voice, but weâll get to that later. First, letâs start with the basicsâŚ
What
Is
Passive Voice?
Basic sentences in the English language are constructed with a
subject
and a
verb
:
She ate.
The next level of complexity is to add an
object
, a âwhatâ for the verb to act on:
She ate all the snacks.
Those are examples of
active voice
because the noun in the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting with the verb. Whoâs doing the eating? She is, and sheâs the subject of the sentence, so the sentence is in active voice.
In contrast,
passive voice
is a sentence structure where the noun doing the acting with the verb is
not
the subject of the sentence:
All the snacks were eaten.
Here, the noun phrase in the subject of the sentence is âall the snacks.â Whoâs doing the eating? Not the snacks. We know those snacks didnât eat themselves, as theyâre the
recipient
of the action, not the
do-er
of the action. So this is an example of passive voice.
What if we gave more details? For example:
All the snacks were eaten by her.
Here, we now know
whoâ
s doing the eating. Itâs âher.â But âherâ is not the subject of the sentence. Itâs still the âsnacks,â so even with the extra information, the sentence is still an example of passive voice.
Why Should We Usually Avoid Passive Voice?
With those examples above, we can see several of the problems with passive voice.
Active voice sentences are better at forming a picture for readers. Itâs easier for them to
show
and not
tell
our story. In contrast, passive voice sentences bury the actor and the acting so
they
tell
 what happened
rather than
show
 events.
Active is easier to Show: She ate all the snacks.
Passive just Tells what happened: The snacks were eaten.
Passive voice sentences are also
more wishy-washy
(which is why theyâre so commonly used by politicians). They donât point fingers at the do-er of the action.
Who
ate all those snacks?
Or in the classic political line:
Mistakes were made.
Who made those mistakes? Hmm?
In addition, as we give more details, passive voice sentences become
more convoluted and harder to read
compared to active voice:
Passive Voice:
All the snacks in the cupboard were eaten by her in a fit of pandemic anxiety.
Active Voice:
In a fit of pandemic anxiety, she ate all the snacks in the cupboard.
When Might We
Want
to Use Passive Voice?
As I mentioned earlier, however, sometimes passive voice makes sense. For example:
We
donât know
(or donât want to
reveal
) the
do-er
of the action:
Her jewelry was scattered across the floor, as though her homeâs invader had been looking for a specific piece
.
We want to
emphasize
the
recipient
of the action, such as when the result of the action is whatâs important:
Her car had been stolen.
The actor is
obvious
or
unimportant
:
Her first post-promotion payroll check was signed, official and everything
.
Despite leading to convoluted sentences, passive voice is grammatically correct. As long as we have a reason for writing in passive voice, weâre allowed to do so. *smile*
How Can We Identify Passive Voice?
Obviously, we can simply think about whether the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting. But thatâs a pain to do for every sentence. Fortunately, there are a couple of clues we can watch out for to shortcut our editing process.
Most passive voice sentences
include an
auxiliary verb
along with the main verb (which is in past participle form), such as with the examples above:
were
eaten
was
scattered
had been
stolen
was
signed
When passive voice sentences identify the actor, they
include the word âby,â
such as from the example above:
All the snacks were eaten
by
her.
How Can We Fix Passive Voice?
What if we
donât
want a sentence to be in passive voice? How can we fix it and make it active voice instead?
To make a sentence active voice, we need to
identify the do-er of the action and make that actor the subject of the sentence.
This is easy if our sentence includes a âbyâ telling us the actor. Then all we need to do is
flip the sentence
.
All the snacks were eaten
by
her. >>
She ate all the snacks.
For the other examples above, we could add more details if we wished to identify the actor:
The burglar had scattered her jewelry across the floor, as though theyâd been looking for a specific piece.
A thief had stolen her car.
Her boss signed her first post-promotion payroll check, official and everything.
When Is an Auxiliary Verb Not a Clue?
The first clue mentioned above for how we can identify passive voice brings us to the issue Kassandra mentioned with past continuous tense. Yes, most passive voice sentences include an auxiliary verb, such as
was
,
were
,
had been
, etc.
However,
that doesnât mean every instance of those words is automatically passive voice.
The Grammar Monster site has a great graphic
about auxiliary verbs and their many uses:
As seen in the graphic, only
one
of the applications of auxiliary verbs falls into the problem of passive voice. So, yes, words like
was
,
were
, and
had been
are often a clue, but not always.
After all, those same words are used in past continuous (or progressive) tenseâŚ
Recap: The Default Tenses of Storytelling
As weâve mentioned in another recent post,
the default tense that many writers use for their storytelling is
past tense
. But that doesnât mean we use past tense for every element of our story.
Instead, the tense we use changes with the various elements of our story:
The
narrative
 is written in past tense:
She
ignored
the knock on the door. In these days of social distancing, she
didnât
want to take any chances.
Dialogue
(including
direct internal dialogue
) is written in present tense:
âI
need
some chocolate to get me through this day. Stat.â
Backstory
(events that occurred before the story present) is written in past perfect tense:
She
had eaten
all the snacks in the house already.
In the narrative examples above, I used the simple past tense. That tense is easy; itâs basic.
However, the simple past tense also applies only when when action has already been completed. Think of a one-time action or something that doesnât continue. But thatâs not always the tense we need.
What Is the Past Continuous Tense?
If an action is uncompleted, interrupted, or consistent (such as with a habit), we need to use a continuous (also known as progressive) tense. If weâre writing our story in the past tense, that means
ongoing actions in our narrative would use the past continuous tense.
The past continuous tense uses the auxiliary verbs
was
or
were
and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
She
was eating
all the snacks in the cupboard when a knock sounded at the door. (uncompleted action)
She
was always snacking
 in the afternoon. (ongoing with a habit)
Or as I mentioned last time, weâd
use the past perfect continuous tense for an action that started further back in our storyâs past and continued to our storyâs present.
The past perfect continuous tense uses the auxiliary verb
had been
and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
SheÂ
had been struggling
 with a constant sense of hunger ever since the pandemic increased her stress level. (ongoing action that started earlier)
Other Uses of
Was
Beyond the past continuous tense, our sentences might include the word
was
at other times as well and still not be passive voice. For instance, all the forms of the verb
be
(am, is, are, was, were, being, been, and will be) can act as verbs all on their own:
She
was
hungry.
He
was
in pain.
She
was
a doctor.
These types of sentences arenât the best examples of active voice, as they donât use exciting action verbs. Instead, the verbs just sit there, linking the subject to more information about it. So if possible, we should try to reword to
show
what we want readers to understand:
Her stomach
gurgled
with hunger.
His face
contorted
into a grimace of pain.
Coffee spills
stained
her doctor scrubs.
However, just because the earlier examples donât use strong action verbs doesnât mean theyâre passive voice. The term
passive voice
applies
only
when our sentence construction doesnât put the do-er of the action in the position of the subject. And regardless of the blah nature of the earlier examples above,
when we simply need to describe a condition, using a linking verb might be our best option.
Was
Does Not Equal Passive Voice
As Kassandra mentioned in her comment, many people are confused about passive voice. They think any appearance of
was
or
were
(or
am
,
is
, orÂ
are
 in present tense writing) in the story automatically means passive voice.
(And donât feel bad if youâve made this mistake. Even Strunk and Whiteâs
Elements of Style
has misidentified linking verb sentences for passive voice in their examples.)
How can we find and fix passive voice sentences in our story?
Share on X
However, just as
the past perfect tense we talked about last time
is necessary sometimesâeven though it can be distancingâthe past continuous tense is necessary sometimes too, even though it uses
was/were
. If actions are ongoing in a habitual way, or if theyâre uncompleted or interrupted (such as with the knock on the door in the example), the continuous tense fits our needs.
Ditto for using linking verbs. While they donât create the most exciting sentences, sometimes theyâre what makes sense for the information we want readers to know.
How Can We Tell When
Was
Isnât Passive Voice?
So how can we tell the difference between these various uses of
was
or other
being
verbs? How can we know if feedback we receive about passive voice is correctâŚor just confused on this issue?
For example withÂ
was
, we can checkâŚ
Is âwasâ all by itself in the verb phrase?
He
was
sixteen years old.
âWasâ is acting as a
linking verb
.
Is âwasâ accompanied by an -ing ending verb?
He
was studying
for his finals.
âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for the
past continuous tense
.
Is âwasâ accompanied by the past participle form of a verb (an -ed ending or an irregular past tense form: eaten, scattered, stolen, signed, etc.)?
The test
was proctored
by his teacher.
âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for
passive voice
.
And for a double check, we can ask ourselves whether the subject of the sentence is the actor for the verb. Did the tests proctor themselves? Nope.
So that last example is definitely a passive voice sentence and could be flipped to active voice:
His teacher
proctored
the test.
In other words, while
was
or
were
can be important words to look for when searching for passive voice, theyâre not an end-all-be-all indicator.
They donât automatically mean passive voice, and their appearance in our writing is a
clue
, not a judgment.
*smile*
Have you heard the advice to avoid passive voice before? Did you know how to identify it (correctly)? Or have you been confused about passive voice in the past? Did this post help explain passive voice and how to identify it? Do you have any questions about passive voice or any of these other issues?
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##### April 14, 2020
# Active vs. Passive Voice: Was and Not Was
I wasnât intending on doing a series on various grammar points, but⌠People have been bringing up common misunderstandings in the comments, so Iâm still here, appreciating all the post ideas. \*grin\*
Last time, we talked about [the past perfect verb tense and how it helps us indicate to readers that a story event happened *before*](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/ "Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense") the past tense of our novel. In the comments of that post, Kassandra Lamb (a frequent guest poster here) brought up [another verb tense that often causes issues](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/#comment-756306 "Kassandra's comment"):
âPerhaps in some future post, you could clarify more about the past continuous tense. Itâs one of my pet peeves that editors and other authors too often assume that âI was eatingâ is passive voice. No, it indicates an ongoing activity.â
Yay for another great idea for a post! \*smile\* Especially as Iâve havenât talked much about passive voice here. Letâs talk about **what *passive voice* is and how to tell when the word *was* is *not* a sign of passive voice.**
### Why Should We Understand Passive Voice?
In school, we might have heard that passive voice is bad or to be avoided. And yes, that advice usually applies to story writing too.
[What is passive voice and how can it cause problems in our story?](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=What%20is%20passive%20voice%20and%20how%20can%20it%20cause%20problems%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=What%20is%20passive%20voice%20and%20how%20can%20it%20cause%20problems%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold)Sentences in active voice are, wellâŚmore active for readers. They make actions clearer, help with showing our story, and are just plain easier to read.
That said, I wonât go so far as to call passive voice *bad*. **Every aspect of the English language, from adverbs and slang to future tense and passive voice, has its place in our writing-craft toolbox.** And sometimes it does make sense to write in passive voice, but weâll get to that later. First, letâs start with the basicsâŚ
### What *Is* Passive Voice?
Basic sentences in the English language are constructed with a *subject* and a *verb*:
- She ate.
The next level of complexity is to add an *object*, a âwhatâ for the verb to act on:
- She ate all the snacks.
Those are examples of *active voice* because the noun in the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting with the verb. Whoâs doing the eating? She is, and sheâs the subject of the sentence, so the sentence is in active voice.
In contrast, ***passive voice* is a sentence structure where the noun doing the acting with the verb is *not* the subject of the sentence:**
- All the snacks were eaten.
Here, the noun phrase in the subject of the sentence is âall the snacks.â Whoâs doing the eating? Not the snacks. We know those snacks didnât eat themselves, as theyâre the *recipient* of the action, not the *do-er* of the action. So this is an example of passive voice.
What if we gave more details? For example:
- All the snacks were eaten by her.
Here, we now know *whoâ*s doing the eating. Itâs âher.â But âherâ is not the subject of the sentence. Itâs still the âsnacks,â so even with the extra information, the sentence is still an example of passive voice.
### Why Should We Usually Avoid Passive Voice?
With those examples above, we can see several of the problems with passive voice.
Active voice sentences are better at forming a picture for readers. Itâs easier for them to *show* and not *tell* our story. In contrast, passive voice sentences bury the actor and the acting so **they *tell* what happened** rather than *show* events.
- Active is easier to Show: She ate all the snacks.
- Passive just Tells what happened: The snacks were eaten.
Passive voice sentences are also **more wishy-washy** (which is why theyâre so commonly used by politicians). They donât point fingers at the do-er of the action. *Who* ate all those snacks?
Or in the classic political line: *Mistakes were made.* Who made those mistakes? Hmm?
In addition, as we give more details, passive voice sentences become **more convoluted and harder to read** compared to active voice:
- **Passive Voice:** All the snacks in the cupboard were eaten by her in a fit of pandemic anxiety.
- **Active Voice:** In a fit of pandemic anxiety, she ate all the snacks in the cupboard.
### When Might We *Want* to Use Passive Voice?
As I mentioned earlier, however, sometimes passive voice makes sense. For example:
- We **donât know** (or donât want to **reveal**) the *do-er* of the action:
*Her jewelry was scattered across the floor, as though her homeâs invader had been looking for a specific piece*.
- We want to **emphasize** the *recipient* of the action, such as when the result of the action is whatâs important:
*Her car had been stolen.*
- The actor is **obvious** or **unimportant**:
*Her first post-promotion payroll check was signed, official and everything*.
Despite leading to convoluted sentences, passive voice is grammatically correct. As long as we have a reason for writing in passive voice, weâre allowed to do so. \*smile\*
### How Can We Identify Passive Voice?
Obviously, we can simply think about whether the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting. But thatâs a pain to do for every sentence. Fortunately, there are a couple of clues we can watch out for to shortcut our editing process.
- Most passive voice sentences **include an *auxiliary verb*** along with the main verb (which is in past participle form), such as with the examples above:
- *were* eaten
- *was* scattered
- *had been* stolen
- *was* signed
- When passive voice sentences identify the actor, they **include the word âby,â** such as from the example above:
- All the snacks were eaten *by* her.
### How Can We Fix Passive Voice?
What if we *donât* want a sentence to be in passive voice? How can we fix it and make it active voice instead?
To make a sentence active voice, we need to **identify the do-er of the action and make that actor the subject of the sentence.** This is easy if our sentence includes a âbyâ telling us the actor. Then all we need to do is [flip the sentence](https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-active-and-passive-voice.html "Examples of Active and Passive Voice").
- All the snacks were eaten *by* her. \>\>
- She ate all the snacks.
For the other examples above, we could add more details if we wished to identify the actor:
- The burglar had scattered her jewelry across the floor, as though theyâd been looking for a specific piece.
- A thief had stolen her car.
- Her boss signed her first post-promotion payroll check, official and everything.
### When Is an Auxiliary Verb Not a Clue?
The first clue mentioned above for how we can identify passive voice brings us to the issue Kassandra mentioned with past continuous tense. Yes, most passive voice sentences include an auxiliary verb, such as *was*, *were*, *had been*, etc.
However, **that doesnât mean every instance of those words is automatically passive voice.** [The Grammar Monster site has a great graphic](https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/auxiliary_verbs.htm "What Are Auxiliary Verbs? (with Examples)") about auxiliary verbs and their many uses:
[](https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/auxiliary_verbs.htm)
As seen in the graphic, only *one* of the applications of auxiliary verbs falls into the problem of passive voice. So, yes, words like *was*, *were*, and *had been* are often a clue, but not always.
After all, those same words are used in past continuous (or progressive) tenseâŚ
### Recap: The Default Tenses of Storytelling
As weâve mentioned in another recent post, [the default tense that many writers use for their storytelling is *past tense*](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/storytelling-verb-tenses-past-present-and-literary-past-tense/ "Storytelling Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and âLiteraryâ Past Tense"). But that doesnât mean we use past tense for every element of our story.
Instead, the tense we use changes with the various elements of our story:
- The **narrative** is written in past tense:
She *ignored* the knock on the door. In these days of social distancing, she *didnât* want to take any chances.
- **Dialogue** (including [direct internal dialogue](https://jamigold.com/2020/03/character-internalization-to-italicize-or-not-to-italicize/ "Character Internalization: To Italicize or Not to Italicize?")) is written in present tense:
âI *need* some chocolate to get me through this day. Stat.â
- **Backstory** (events that occurred before the story present) is written in past perfect tense:
She *had eaten* all the snacks in the house already.
In the narrative examples above, I used the simple past tense. That tense is easy; itâs basic.
However, the simple past tense also applies only when when action has already been completed. Think of a one-time action or something that doesnât continue. But thatâs not always the tense we need.
### What Is the Past Continuous Tense?
If an action is uncompleted, interrupted, or consistent (such as with a habit), we need to use a continuous (also known as progressive) tense. If weâre writing our story in the past tense, that means **ongoing actions in our narrative would use the past continuous tense.**
The past continuous tense uses the auxiliary verbs *was* or *were* and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
- She *was eating* all the snacks in the cupboard when a knock sounded at the door. (uncompleted action)
- She *was always snacking* in the afternoon. (ongoing with a habit)
Or as I mentioned last time, weâd **use the past perfect continuous tense for an action that started further back in our storyâs past and continued to our storyâs present.**
The past perfect continuous tense uses the auxiliary verb *had been* and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
- She *had been struggling* with a constant sense of hunger ever since the pandemic increased her stress level. (ongoing action that started earlier)
### Other Uses of *Was*
Beyond the past continuous tense, our sentences might include the word *was* at other times as well and still not be passive voice. For instance, all the forms of the verb *be* (am, is, are, was, were, being, been, and will be) can act as verbs all on their own:
- She *was* hungry.
- He *was* in pain.
- She *was* a doctor.
These types of sentences arenât the best examples of active voice, as they donât use exciting action verbs. Instead, the verbs just sit there, linking the subject to more information about it. So if possible, we should try to reword to *show* what we want readers to understand:
- Her stomach *gurgled* with hunger.
- His face *contorted* into a grimace of pain.
- Coffee spills *stained* her doctor scrubs.
However, just because the earlier examples donât use strong action verbs doesnât mean theyâre passive voice. The term *passive voice* applies *only* when our sentence construction doesnât put the do-er of the action in the position of the subject. And regardless of the blah nature of the earlier examples above, **when we simply need to describe a condition, using a linking verb might be our best option.**
### *Was* Does Not Equal Passive Voice
As Kassandra mentioned in her comment, many people are confused about passive voice. They think any appearance of *was* or *were* (or *am*, *is*, or *are* in present tense writing) in the story automatically means passive voice.
(And donât feel bad if youâve made this mistake. Even Strunk and Whiteâs *Elements of Style* has misidentified linking verb sentences for passive voice in their examples.)
[How can we find and fix passive voice sentences in our story?](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=How%20can%20we%20find%20and%20fix%20passive%20voice%20sentences%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=How%20can%20we%20find%20and%20fix%20passive%20voice%20sentences%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold)However, just as [the past perfect tense we talked about last time](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/ "Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense") is necessary sometimesâeven though it can be distancingâthe past continuous tense is necessary sometimes too, even though it uses *was/were*. If actions are ongoing in a habitual way, or if theyâre uncompleted or interrupted (such as with the knock on the door in the example), the continuous tense fits our needs.
Ditto for using linking verbs. While they donât create the most exciting sentences, sometimes theyâre what makes sense for the information we want readers to know.
### How Can We Tell When *Was* Isnât Passive Voice?
So how can we tell the difference between these various uses of *was* or other *being* verbs? How can we know if feedback we receive about passive voice is correctâŚor just confused on this issue?
For example with *was*, we can checkâŚ
- Is âwasâ all by itself in the verb phrase?
He *was* sixteen years old.
- âWasâ is acting as a **linking verb**.
- Is âwasâ accompanied by an -ing ending verb?
He *was studying* for his finals.
- âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for the **past continuous tense**.
- Is âwasâ accompanied by the past participle form of a verb (an -ed ending or an irregular past tense form: eaten, scattered, stolen, signed, etc.)?
The test *was proctored* by his teacher.
- âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for **passive voice**.
And for a double check, we can ask ourselves whether the subject of the sentence is the actor for the verb. Did the tests proctor themselves? Nope.
So that last example is definitely a passive voice sentence and could be flipped to active voice:
- His teacher *proctored* the test.
In other words, while *was* or *were* can be important words to look for when searching for passive voice, theyâre not an end-all-be-all indicator. **They donât automatically mean passive voice, and their appearance in our writing is a *clue*, not a judgment.** \*smile\*
Have you heard the advice to avoid passive voice before? Did you know how to identify it (correctly)? Or have you been confused about passive voice in the past? Did this post help explain passive voice and how to identify it? Do you have any questions about passive voice or any of these other issues?
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Check out these related posts:
1. [Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/ "Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense")
2. [Writing Craft Master Lists: Filling in the BlanksâParticiple Phrases](https://jamigold.com/2018/02/writing-craft-master-lists-filling-in-the-blanks/ "Writing Craft Master Lists: Filling in the BlanksâParticiple Phrases")
3. [Can Common Writing Advice Be Wrong?](https://jamigold.com/2019/08/can-common-writing-advice-be-wrong/ "Can Common Writing Advice Be Wrong?")
4. [Writing Craft Basics: How to Format Dialogue](https://jamigold.com/2020/03/writing-craft-basics-how-to-format-dialogue/ "Writing Craft Basics: How to Format Dialogue")
5. [Breaking the âRulesâ: Will It Be Easy or Hard?](https://jamigold.com/2020/05/breaking-the-rules-will-it-be-easy-or-hard/ "Breaking the âRulesâ: Will It Be Easy or Hard?")
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### 9 Comments â What do you think?
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[Kassandra Lamb](https://kassandralamb.com/)
Bless you, Jami! Love this post, of course.
Vote Up1Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[](https://jamigold.com/author/jamigold/)
[Jami Gold](https://jamigold.com/)
Thank *you* for the great idea of the post, Kass\!
Oh, Iâm going to copy over [my comment](https://www.facebook.com/jamigold.author/posts/3403146393033882?comment_id=3403147159700472&reply_comment_id=3404062162942305&__cft__[0]=AZX7ud9p5juPwY8mvmmwc1_aUvTQHRX-7Pb8c3HTpDOCEQwaEviNALmS3peaShtQxXACviSSXCFsDGlVuh5BHv7Ff9dbMp-mpAOuchM7AyrUyo5t4TZ06VaAPP6EwZX2soQ&__tn__=R]-R) here from our FB conversation, because I touched more on those linking verb sentences, which others might find interesting. đ
> Yep, âShe was a teacherâ is a linking verb sentence, where the verb basically acts as an equal sign.
>
> In fact, even though it sounds really weird, itâs grammatically correct to swap the nouns:
> A teacher was she. đ¤¨
>
> Notice how it didnât switch to the object form of the pronoun with âherâ? The nouns can swap as-is because a linking verb doesnât create an object for the sentence (it doesnât act \*on\* anything). So âsheâ is still a subject and not an object of the sentence, even with it flipped. Weird, huh? đ
Vote Up2Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[ChemistKen](http://hogwartssabbatical.blogspot.com/)
Iâm happy to see you mentioned that the use of âwasâ as a linking verb DOES NOT make a sentence passive voice. Iâve read too many posts by writers trying to explain passive voice who get that wrong. Thanks.
Vote Up0Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[Zinjy](http://qatheworld.wordpress.com/)
Was (Not Was)? Everybody walk the dinosaur! This was my mental soundtrack for the whole post, thanks đ
Vote Up2Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[Cally](http://callyberryman.com/)
A great post. Thank you.
Vote Up0Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[Dawn](https://dawnrossauthor.com/)
Understanding the structure of the English language has never been my strong suit. When I edit, I look for the word was followed by an -ing word. Your post provides a lot more in-depth information and makes it easier for me to understand why I look for was -ings. Thanks\!
Vote Up1Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
[Vivienne Sang](http://aspholessaria.wordpress.com/)
Thank you for such a clear explanation. I am part of an online critique group, and was corrected by someone when I identified the past continuous as passive. I am now much wiser\!
I was recently reading Jane Austinâs Persuasion and came across this terrible sentence from slmeone who is considered a great writer: ââŚthe coach was beginning to be listened for.â (She does use a lot of passive voice.)
Vote Up1Vote Down Reply
5 years ago
Brent Butler
However, even when âwasâ (etc) isnât passive, itâs often still anemic writing. We should avoid linking verbs (copulas) unless we have to write a ridiculous sentence to get around them. Thatâs essentially the same notion as ignoring the âruleâ of not ending a sentence with a preposition.
Of course, there are also ways to make even a âlinking verb sentenceâ strong. You simply craft the story around it so that the linking verb sentence makes an impact:
I gaped as I watched the man pull out a pen knife and cut a hole in my gasping friendâs throat. Had he watched too many medical dramas? On the tube training? Then as I moved around to get a good look at him, I saw the caducous pin on his lapel.
He was a doctor.
Vote Up0Vote Down Reply
1 year ago
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[Jami Gold](https://jamigold.com/)
Hi Brent,
Great point, and I agree. As you said, we would usually want to change linking-verb sentences unless it creates a too-convoluted sentence, similar to the âending a sentence with a prepositionâ guideline. Perfect, and great example at the endâthanks for sharing! đ
Vote Up0Vote Down Reply
6 months ago
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| Readable Markdown | I wasnât intending on doing a series on various grammar points, but⌠People have been bringing up common misunderstandings in the comments, so Iâm still here, appreciating all the post ideas. \*grin\*
Last time, we talked about [the past perfect verb tense and how it helps us indicate to readers that a story event happened *before*](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/ "Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense") the past tense of our novel. In the comments of that post, Kassandra Lamb (a frequent guest poster here) brought up [another verb tense that often causes issues](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/#comment-756306 "Kassandra's comment"):
âPerhaps in some future post, you could clarify more about the past continuous tense. Itâs one of my pet peeves that editors and other authors too often assume that âI was eatingâ is passive voice. No, it indicates an ongoing activity.â
Yay for another great idea for a post! \*smile\* Especially as Iâve havenât talked much about passive voice here. Letâs talk about **what *passive voice* is and how to tell when the word *was* is *not* a sign of passive voice.**
### Why Should We Understand Passive Voice?
In school, we might have heard that passive voice is bad or to be avoided. And yes, that advice usually applies to story writing too.
[What is passive voice and how can it cause problems in our story?](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=What%20is%20passive%20voice%20and%20how%20can%20it%20cause%20problems%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=What%20is%20passive%20voice%20and%20how%20can%20it%20cause%20problems%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold)Sentences in active voice are, wellâŚmore active for readers. They make actions clearer, help with showing our story, and are just plain easier to read.
That said, I wonât go so far as to call passive voice *bad*. **Every aspect of the English language, from adverbs and slang to future tense and passive voice, has its place in our writing-craft toolbox.** And sometimes it does make sense to write in passive voice, but weâll get to that later. First, letâs start with the basicsâŚ
### What *Is* Passive Voice?
Basic sentences in the English language are constructed with a *subject* and a *verb*:
- She ate.
The next level of complexity is to add an *object*, a âwhatâ for the verb to act on:
- She ate all the snacks.
Those are examples of *active voice* because the noun in the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting with the verb. Whoâs doing the eating? She is, and sheâs the subject of the sentence, so the sentence is in active voice.
In contrast, ***passive voice* is a sentence structure where the noun doing the acting with the verb is *not* the subject of the sentence:**
- All the snacks were eaten.
Here, the noun phrase in the subject of the sentence is âall the snacks.â Whoâs doing the eating? Not the snacks. We know those snacks didnât eat themselves, as theyâre the *recipient* of the action, not the *do-er* of the action. So this is an example of passive voice.
What if we gave more details? For example:
- All the snacks were eaten by her.
Here, we now know *whoâ*s doing the eating. Itâs âher.â But âherâ is not the subject of the sentence. Itâs still the âsnacks,â so even with the extra information, the sentence is still an example of passive voice.
### Why Should We Usually Avoid Passive Voice?
With those examples above, we can see several of the problems with passive voice.
Active voice sentences are better at forming a picture for readers. Itâs easier for them to *show* and not *tell* our story. In contrast, passive voice sentences bury the actor and the acting so **they *tell* what happened** rather than *show* events.
- Active is easier to Show: She ate all the snacks.
- Passive just Tells what happened: The snacks were eaten.
Passive voice sentences are also **more wishy-washy** (which is why theyâre so commonly used by politicians). They donât point fingers at the do-er of the action. *Who* ate all those snacks?
Or in the classic political line: *Mistakes were made.* Who made those mistakes? Hmm?
In addition, as we give more details, passive voice sentences become **more convoluted and harder to read** compared to active voice:
- **Passive Voice:** All the snacks in the cupboard were eaten by her in a fit of pandemic anxiety.
- **Active Voice:** In a fit of pandemic anxiety, she ate all the snacks in the cupboard.
### When Might We *Want* to Use Passive Voice?
As I mentioned earlier, however, sometimes passive voice makes sense. For example:
- We **donât know** (or donât want to **reveal**) the *do-er* of the action:
*Her jewelry was scattered across the floor, as though her homeâs invader had been looking for a specific piece*.
- We want to **emphasize** the *recipient* of the action, such as when the result of the action is whatâs important:
*Her car had been stolen.*
- The actor is **obvious** or **unimportant**:
*Her first post-promotion payroll check was signed, official and everything*.
Despite leading to convoluted sentences, passive voice is grammatically correct. As long as we have a reason for writing in passive voice, weâre allowed to do so. \*smile\*
### How Can We Identify Passive Voice?
Obviously, we can simply think about whether the subject of the sentence is the one doing the acting. But thatâs a pain to do for every sentence. Fortunately, there are a couple of clues we can watch out for to shortcut our editing process.
- Most passive voice sentences **include an *auxiliary verb*** along with the main verb (which is in past participle form), such as with the examples above:
- *were* eaten
- *was* scattered
- *had been* stolen
- *was* signed
- When passive voice sentences identify the actor, they **include the word âby,â** such as from the example above:
- All the snacks were eaten *by* her.
### How Can We Fix Passive Voice?
What if we *donât* want a sentence to be in passive voice? How can we fix it and make it active voice instead?
To make a sentence active voice, we need to **identify the do-er of the action and make that actor the subject of the sentence.** This is easy if our sentence includes a âbyâ telling us the actor. Then all we need to do is [flip the sentence](https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-active-and-passive-voice.html "Examples of Active and Passive Voice").
- All the snacks were eaten *by* her. \>\>
- She ate all the snacks.
For the other examples above, we could add more details if we wished to identify the actor:
- The burglar had scattered her jewelry across the floor, as though theyâd been looking for a specific piece.
- A thief had stolen her car.
- Her boss signed her first post-promotion payroll check, official and everything.
### When Is an Auxiliary Verb Not a Clue?
The first clue mentioned above for how we can identify passive voice brings us to the issue Kassandra mentioned with past continuous tense. Yes, most passive voice sentences include an auxiliary verb, such as *was*, *were*, *had been*, etc.
However, **that doesnât mean every instance of those words is automatically passive voice.** [The Grammar Monster site has a great graphic](https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/auxiliary_verbs.htm "What Are Auxiliary Verbs? (with Examples)") about auxiliary verbs and their many uses:
[](https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/auxiliary_verbs.htm)
As seen in the graphic, only *one* of the applications of auxiliary verbs falls into the problem of passive voice. So, yes, words like *was*, *were*, and *had been* are often a clue, but not always.
After all, those same words are used in past continuous (or progressive) tenseâŚ
### Recap: The Default Tenses of Storytelling
As weâve mentioned in another recent post, [the default tense that many writers use for their storytelling is *past tense*](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/storytelling-verb-tenses-past-present-and-literary-past-tense/ "Storytelling Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and âLiteraryâ Past Tense"). But that doesnât mean we use past tense for every element of our story.
Instead, the tense we use changes with the various elements of our story:
- The **narrative** is written in past tense:
She *ignored* the knock on the door. In these days of social distancing, she *didnât* want to take any chances.
- **Dialogue** (including [direct internal dialogue](https://jamigold.com/2020/03/character-internalization-to-italicize-or-not-to-italicize/ "Character Internalization: To Italicize or Not to Italicize?")) is written in present tense:
âI *need* some chocolate to get me through this day. Stat.â
- **Backstory** (events that occurred before the story present) is written in past perfect tense:
She *had eaten* all the snacks in the house already.
In the narrative examples above, I used the simple past tense. That tense is easy; itâs basic.
However, the simple past tense also applies only when when action has already been completed. Think of a one-time action or something that doesnât continue. But thatâs not always the tense we need.
### What Is the Past Continuous Tense?
If an action is uncompleted, interrupted, or consistent (such as with a habit), we need to use a continuous (also known as progressive) tense. If weâre writing our story in the past tense, that means **ongoing actions in our narrative would use the past continuous tense.**
The past continuous tense uses the auxiliary verbs *was* or *were* and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
- She *was eating* all the snacks in the cupboard when a knock sounded at the door. (uncompleted action)
- She *was always snacking* in the afternoon. (ongoing with a habit)
Or as I mentioned last time, weâd **use the past perfect continuous tense for an action that started further back in our storyâs past and continued to our storyâs present.**
The past perfect continuous tense uses the auxiliary verb *had been* and the main verb would use the form of an -ing ending:
- She *had been struggling* with a constant sense of hunger ever since the pandemic increased her stress level. (ongoing action that started earlier)
### Other Uses of *Was*
Beyond the past continuous tense, our sentences might include the word *was* at other times as well and still not be passive voice. For instance, all the forms of the verb *be* (am, is, are, was, were, being, been, and will be) can act as verbs all on their own:
- She *was* hungry.
- He *was* in pain.
- She *was* a doctor.
These types of sentences arenât the best examples of active voice, as they donât use exciting action verbs. Instead, the verbs just sit there, linking the subject to more information about it. So if possible, we should try to reword to *show* what we want readers to understand:
- Her stomach *gurgled* with hunger.
- His face *contorted* into a grimace of pain.
- Coffee spills *stained* her doctor scrubs.
However, just because the earlier examples donât use strong action verbs doesnât mean theyâre passive voice. The term *passive voice* applies *only* when our sentence construction doesnât put the do-er of the action in the position of the subject. And regardless of the blah nature of the earlier examples above, **when we simply need to describe a condition, using a linking verb might be our best option.**
### *Was* Does Not Equal Passive Voice
As Kassandra mentioned in her comment, many people are confused about passive voice. They think any appearance of *was* or *were* (or *am*, *is*, or *are* in present tense writing) in the story automatically means passive voice.
(And donât feel bad if youâve made this mistake. Even Strunk and Whiteâs *Elements of Style* has misidentified linking verb sentences for passive voice in their examples.)
[How can we find and fix passive voice sentences in our story?](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=How%20can%20we%20find%20and%20fix%20passive%20voice%20sentences%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamigold.com%2F2020%2F04%2Factive-vs-passive-voice-was-and-not-was%2F&text=How%20can%20we%20find%20and%20fix%20passive%20voice%20sentences%20in%20our%20story%3F&via=JamiGold&related=JamiGold)However, just as [the past perfect tense we talked about last time](https://jamigold.com/2020/04/beyond-the-past-understanding-the-past-perfect-tense/ "Beyond the Past: Understanding the Past Perfect Tense") is necessary sometimesâeven though it can be distancingâthe past continuous tense is necessary sometimes too, even though it uses *was/were*. If actions are ongoing in a habitual way, or if theyâre uncompleted or interrupted (such as with the knock on the door in the example), the continuous tense fits our needs.
Ditto for using linking verbs. While they donât create the most exciting sentences, sometimes theyâre what makes sense for the information we want readers to know.
### How Can We Tell When *Was* Isnât Passive Voice?
So how can we tell the difference between these various uses of *was* or other *being* verbs? How can we know if feedback we receive about passive voice is correctâŚor just confused on this issue?
For example with *was*, we can checkâŚ
- Is âwasâ all by itself in the verb phrase?
He *was* sixteen years old.
- âWasâ is acting as a **linking verb**.
- Is âwasâ accompanied by an -ing ending verb?
He *was studying* for his finals.
- âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for the **past continuous tense**.
- Is âwasâ accompanied by the past participle form of a verb (an -ed ending or an irregular past tense form: eaten, scattered, stolen, signed, etc.)?
The test *was proctored* by his teacher.
- âWasâ is acting as an auxiliary verb for **passive voice**.
And for a double check, we can ask ourselves whether the subject of the sentence is the actor for the verb. Did the tests proctor themselves? Nope.
So that last example is definitely a passive voice sentence and could be flipped to active voice:
- His teacher *proctored* the test.
In other words, while *was* or *were* can be important words to look for when searching for passive voice, theyâre not an end-all-be-all indicator. **They donât automatically mean passive voice, and their appearance in our writing is a *clue*, not a judgment.** \*smile\*
Have you heard the advice to avoid passive voice before? Did you know how to identify it (correctly)? Or have you been confused about passive voice in the past? Did this post help explain passive voice and how to identify it? Do you have any questions about passive voice or any of these other issues?
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