People who think about such things debate the use of active and passive voices of verbs. What’s that? You didn’t know verbs had “voices”? Consider the following illustrations:
Active Voice Passive Voice
John hit the ball. The ball was hit by John.
Mary sang the song. The song was sung by Mary.
Sally will write a book. A book will be written by Sally.
In each sentence the verb is italicized, and note that the same verb goes from being active to passive simply by adding the verb to be to a transitive verb. (A transitive verb is a so-called “action” verb and in its active voice usually has a direct object: “John hit the ball” – – ball is the direct object. In its passive voice, “hit” loses the direct object and becomes intransitive; and ball becomes the subject of the sentence.
That tiny little verb be is enormously powerful. It conjugates in the present tense as follows: I am; he is; we, you, and they are; I, he was; you, we, they were in the past tense. By spinning the verb around from active (transitive) to passive (intransitive), the sense of the sentence goes from being direct to indirect; many abhor the impersonal nature of the passive verb (“The cookie jar was broken” – – by whom?). Scholarly types apparently have heart attacks over such things, and some “decree” that the passive voice is never to be used.
While the clarity and directives of the active voice may be preferred as a general rule, C. Edward Good in his wonderful “A Grammar Book for You and I, Oops Me” makes the case for the passive voice in certain circumstances:
a) Generalizing. It is always a bit stilted (though correct) to use “one” with an active voice in making a general statement: “One uses trains more often as gas prices spike.” It seems more natural to say, “Trains are used more often as gas prices spike.” In the passive voice, the direct object, trains has flipped and is now the subject. The “active” sentence is like tight new shoes; the “passive” is a soft pair of old slippers.
b) When the actor is irrelevant. Passive: “The promotional campaign was created in July.” Active: “The marketing department created the promotional campaign in July.”
c) The actor is unknown. Passive: “The car was stolen.” Active: “Someone stole the car.”
d) When added emphasis is desired. Passive: “The records were destroyed by the company CEO!” Active: “The company CEO destroyed the records!” (Admittedly, a close call.)
e) When the acting person does not want to be identified. Passive: “Your file has been lost.” Active: “I lost your file.”
f) To avoid sexist writing: Passive: “An application must be submitted by Tuesday.” Active: “Each interested party must submit his/her (never “their,” thank you very much) application by Tuesday.”
g) When the writer wishes to focus on the recipient of the action. Passive: “He will be asked to resign in spite of his qualifications.” Active: “The boss will ask him to resign in spite of his qualifications.” The subject of the sentence shifts from “he” to the “boss.”
These rules apply irrespective of the tense (past, present, future, imperfect, etc.). Properly applied, they add nuance and texture to your expression.
– Ken Butera