Quote:
Originally Posted by DaringNovelist
For instance: A writer with cloudy, inexact ideas will naturally use passive voice. She uses it not because it's a bad habit or an error, but because it is the very best way to express her foggy thinking.
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Actually, it is a common misperception that there is something inherently wrong with using the passive voice. Depending on the modality of writing, the passive voice can be
more correct than the active voice. For instance, in a scientific journal article, the writer's goal is to emphasize the research itself rather than the researcher. The writer must use the passive voice to accomplish this task: "The specimen was placed in a ceramic beaker containing 30 ml of tap water. The temperature of the water was slowly raised until it reached a boiling point." No one really cares that it was Underpaid Lab Assistant Joe Blow who actually did the placing and temperature upping; his participation in the experiment is superfluous information so using the active voice would result in an inaccurate overemphasis of his importance.