September 02, 2011

Plums, Anonymity, and the Passive Voice

It’s usually best to use the active voice in business writing, but the passive voice can be appropriate when it doesn’t matter who performs an action.

Here are two sentences from an article about how everyone can ripen and store plums:

Plums can be ripened easily if left in an open paper bag at room temperature. When ripe, plums can be eaten immediately or stored in the refrigerator.

The passive voice is OK for these highlighted verbs because the article doesn’t focus on how you, the reader, can ripen plums. However, the active voice makes sense more quickly and adds more energy to the sentences:

You can ripen plums easily: leave them in an open paper bag at room temperature. When plums are ripe, you can eat them immediately or store them in the refrigerator.

Passive language is usually best when you describe the actions of team members whose individuality is less important than the actions (“The test tubes were sealed”).

Active language works best for instructions (“Next, seal the test tubes”) and almost all other writing.

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Write It Well’s books Professional Writing Skills and Essential Grammar include sections on active and passive language.

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