Professional editor's corner active versus passive voice

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Professional Editor's Corner Active Versus
Passive Voice
Polishedpaper.com
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• Business, banking, science, art, and a myriad of
  other sectors prefer, no, demand that you be
  active rather than passive. The active seize what
  they want, explore the world around them, and
  experiment with new approaches and ideas. They
  are confident, exciting, and innovative. They
  lead. They take the initiative. They live rich,
  full lives. By contrast, the passive let life
  pass them by. They simply accept what others give
  them and seem to have no will of their own. Which
  are you?

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• Most would say they are active. Active is the
  ideal. If your words in some way represent you,
  why would you, an active individual, use the
  passive voice? Your language should be as direct
  and colourful as you are. Perhaps you simply do
  not know the difference. Here, I will tell you
  all you need to know about active and passive
  language.
• Active language is straightforward. You begin
  with the subject, either the doer or the
  be-er.

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• Such constructions look like this.
• DOER
• Subject-Verb-Object
• The doctor discovered a new cancer treatment.
• OR
• BE-ER
• Subject-BE Verb-Noun or Adjective
• The doctor is uniquely qualified to chair the
  research committee.

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• By contrast, passive constructions begin with an
  object being acted upon (receiver).
• RECEIVER
• Object-BE verb past participle
• The surveys were analyzed.
• Passive constructions may include a phrase at the
  end beginning with by to indicate the doer.

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• The pollen was spread by the wind.
• Why would anyone use the passive? The passive is
  indirect, unclear, often awkward, and wordy.
  Sentences MAY warrant the passive, for example,
  1) when writers do not know who the doer is or
  the doer is obvious, 2) when they wish to focus
  on the receiver, 3) or when they wish to avoid
  the first-person pronoun (I or we).
• The criminal was caught Tuesday. (Active version
  The police caught the criminal Tuesday.)

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• My house was burglarized. (Active version
  Someone burglarized my house.)
• Big cats (e.g., lions and tigers) have been
  hunted to near extinction by humans. (Active
  version Humans have hunted big cats (e.g., lions
  and tigers) to near extinction.
• Informed consent was obtained, and, then, the
  participants were interviewed. (Active version
  Either The present researchers obtained
  informed consent and then interviewed the
  participants. Or We obtained informed consent
  and then interviewed the participants.)

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• However, in almost all contexts, active is
  better. For those of you seeking dissertation
  editing services, APA editing services, or
  journal article editing services, your editor
  will put all appropriate sentences into the
  active voice and most likely use first-person
  pronouns. This may seem wrong, but, nowadays,
  most of the major styles and journals call for
  the active, even if that means using the first
  person. MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE all ask for
  the active. Why? Not only is the active more
  concise and richer in detail (rendering your
  prose smoother and more interesting), but also we
  live in a world of increasing accountability and
  transparency. Readers want to know who did what,
  how, and when.

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