Put A Tigger In Your Prose
Tip Of The Day –Using the active voice
This is part of a series of daily tips for writers, published to share ideas and suggestions on our craft. Everyone will have different advice on writing, so the tip below is just a personal selection which I hope you will find useful. Do share any of your own in the comments.
Today’s tip is to use the active voice instead of the passive voice to make your writing more engaging and dynamic. To explain the difference between the active and passive voices here are a couple of examples. See what you think:
Passive: I was bitten by Joe Biden’s dog
Active: Joe Biden’s dog bit me.
Which do you prefer? Probably not to get bitten at all, but which is most engaging? Or for another example:
Passive: The outstanding brilliance of my article was recognised by readers of Medium.
Active: Medium’s readers recognised the outstanding brilliance of my article.
Again which is best? Possibly you are not bothered, just enjoying the adulation. Or another example:
Passive: I was made angry by my tax bill
Active: The tax bill made me angry.
Notice how in each of the examples, the active one is more direct and uses slightly fewer words. This short video clip explains the difference between active and passive voices, with some examples:
Nearly all the advice one sees is to use the active voice most of the time. The active voice carries more energy, is more direct, and usually uses fewer words than the passive. Similarly, the structure of a sentence in the passive voice can sound somewhat clumsy and clunky, and no one wants a clunky read.
This difference in energy reminds me of an article by a Medium friend I read this week comparing the characters in A. A Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” books. So you could think of active sentences as Tiggers, lively, full of energy and fun, fun, fun, bouncing off the walls, and great to be with, the life and soul of the party. In contrast, passive sentences are Eeyores, everything is done to him, he has no initiative, one of life’s victims, he is downtrodden and lifeless.
The writer George Orwell, whose six rules of writing were considered in our day 20 tip, was a particular advocate of just using the active voice. However, there are varying views, and of course, there may be times when you want to achieve a particular effect with your writing, when using the passive voice is fine. Rules are made to be broken, especially if you are a politician! For a more academic analysis of the two different voices, this Wikipedia article goes into fine detail:
Overall, I would agree with George Orwell and most other commentators, that as a general rule, the active voice is best. We generally want our writing to be concise, lively and readable, and to convey energy, rather than plodding, heavy-going prose more typical of the passive voice. So for lively and readable articles, make your sentences Tiggers, not Eeyores!
I hope you found this article useful, and any tips of your own in the comments.
Previous tips:
Day 23 — Dedication — time, place, space
Day 22 — On spell-checking, Grammarly and proof-reading
Day 21 — The five unspoken commandments of Medium
Day 20 — George Orwell’s six tips on writing style
Day 19 — The importance of interaction
Day 18 — Replying to comments
Day 17: Engagement
Day 16- Attention-seeking behaviour — the importance of your first sentence –
Day 15 — Keep it snappy — headlines —
Day 14- Subject selection —
Day 13 — Making time —
Day 12 — Deadlines —
Day 11 — Layout —
Day 10 — Niches for Riches —
Day 9 — Do your own research —
Day 8 — Choosing your subject —
Day 7 — Reverse engineering success —
Day 6 — Planning —
Day 5 — Location —
Day 4 — Dictionary and thesaurus —
Day 3 –Quotations
Day 2 — Mind your language — learning new words
Day 1- The Notebook