Is Writing in the Passive Voice Bad?

Adjusting your readers’ focus

Do you think the active sentence “The boy chases the girl” is better (or more correct) than the passive “The girl was chased by the boy,” as many online grammar checkers would want you to believe?

No, it is not. Because writing in the passive voice is a stylistic choice.

And the choice is yours to make.

You use the active voice to focus on the boy in the above example. By utilizing the passive voice, on the other hand, you highlight the girl. Which of the two focus points you choose at the end will depend entirely on the narrative and not a rigid grammar rule. Neither choice is the “right” one. Picking the active or the passive voice solely depends on the context.

So, help your readers process your writing by deciding what needs to be stressed: the chaser’s viewpoint, in this case, or that of the chased.

This distinction between active and passive voice is essential in storytelling.

Active voice drives the action and establishes timeline, motion and speed. Passive voice builds tension and suspense; it creates…