![]() 1) When the agent of the action is unimportant, unknown, or obvious to readersĬhoose the passive voice when the agent of the action is unknown or unimportant to the action being discussed, or when it is quite clear who is performing the action. Sticking with the conventional wisdom that we should use the active voice as often as possible, when exactly should we opt for the passive? Here are three circumstances in which using the passive voice can be a good decision. Whether the reasons for this are practical or because it is simply more fashionable today to use the passive voice, there are good reasons to include this construction to gain a balanced perspective in your writing. In fact, scientific manuscripts have increasingly favored passive-voice construction in the past couple of decades. However, this is not a command to silence the passive voice entirely. ![]() Since active-voice constructions are usually stronger, clearer, more direct, and often more concise than their passive-voice counterparts, most style guides advise scientific and clinical authors to favor the active voice in their research writing. Also, note that by eliminating the agent we have also decreased the word count, which makes the passive construction leaner than the active voice in this case. In this example, “sample groups” stands out as the most important element in the sentence, and indeed it should since we are able to omit the agent entirely-adding “by us” or “by the researchers” seems redundant as the researchers are necessarily the ones carrying out the operations of a study. Example: “ Sample groups were arranged (by us/by the researchers).” The passive voice, on the other hand, emphasizes the person or object receiving the action. The subject pronoun “we” leads the sentence, setting off its importance in the action and leading right into the action taken against the object, “the sample groups.” Using this construction doesn’t necessarily imply that “the sample groups” is unimportant, but it does place special emphasis on the agent of the action. Example: “ We arranged the sample groups.” In general, the active voice emphasizes the agent of the action-that is, the person or object performing the action. So when should an author choose the passive voice over the active voice and what is the difference between the two? Differences Between the Active and the Passive Voice ![]() In fact, applying only one type of voice construction can make a paper awkward to read and difficult to comprehend, and it might even confuse the reader about which parts of the study or a given passage are most important. While this rule generally applies to research writing, there are some definite differences in application–this accounts for why there are so many sentences in scientific journal articles using the passive voice construction. You may have been taught in school that you should always use the active voice, especially when giving speeches and when writing fiction or persuasive essays, as it emphasizes the subject and makes your sentences leaner and stronger. One decision that gives pause to thousands of beginning researchers is whether to use the active or passive voice in their research papers. When to Use the Active or Passive Voice in Research Writing
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