Passive vs. Active voice Taller de inglés científico para publicaciones académicas Mexico City, México August-September 2014 PASSIVE VS. ACTIVE VOICE Academic Writing Principles

Passive vs. Active voice Generally, the active voice gives more clarity to your writing. Overuse of the passive voice can obscure the meaning of your ideas and lead the reader to question your argument. There is a general trend to use more active voice in science journals.

Issues with passive voice If overused, readers might think that the writer has not fully thought through the issue – it can make for imprecise arguments. E.g. It was established that the electrical conductivity of sedimentary rocks depends on the exciting frequency of the EM field, as a result of the induced-polarization effect. Who established this? When did they do it? Why? You might question the writer’s understanding of this issue.

Being precise – change passive to active In a previous study (Molina et al., 2005), we established that the electrical conductivity of sedimentary rocks depends on the exciting frequency of the EM field, as a result of the induced-polarization effect.

An example – what do you think? Using the semi-analytic approach, the first model for dimensionless equations was derived by Selman (2011). Selman (2011) derived the first model for dimensionless equations using the semi-analytic approach.

The first example (in the passive voice) emphasizes the semi-analytic approach and the equations, rather than the researcher. The active voice version brings Waksman to the forefront but has the effect of deemphasizing the approach and the equations. If the writer is mainly concerned with the approach and the equations, the passive version would be the better choice; if the main concern related to Waksman, the active version would be better.

Using the active voice for precision Strengthen your argument and be more precise…. For example….. It is argued that….. The link between mitochondrial DNA and Asperger’s syndrome has been made…. The importance of mRNA was shown….

Scientific writing Traditionally, journal editors favoured the passive voice. Now, however, this view is changing and many journals accept or even, prefer the first-person active voice. E.g. It was found that the case study was an ideal example of management systems. We found that the case study was an ideal example of management systems.

When is the passive voice OK? 1) To emphasize an object 100 votes are required to pass the bill. (passive with emphasis on the number of votes needed) The bill requires 100 votes to pass. (active with emphasis on the bill) 2) When there is no known actor/subject Over 120 different chemicals have leached into the groundwater. 3) If the readers don’t need to know the actor (depends) The verdict was delivered yesterday at noon. The jury delivered the verdict yesterday at noon.

How do you know which to use? Ask yourself… Is the doer/actor indicated? Should you indicate him/her/it? Does it really matter who's responsible for the action? Would your reader ask you to clarify a sentence because of an issue related to your use of the passive? Do you use a passive construction in your hypothesis statement? Do you use the passive as a crutch in summarizing a plot or history, or in describing something? Do you want to emphasize the object?

Recommendation Generally a mix of active and passive voice is a good idea as it provides better flow and sounds less repetitive.

Your turn Look at a neighbour’s paper and then your own and analyze for use of passive/active voice