Using Passive Voice Correctly

1
Using Passive Voice Correctly

• Scientific Mathematical Writing
• The Rooftop Lab

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What is Active Voice?

• To understand Passive Voice, we should first look
  at the way we usually write Active Voice
• In Active Voice, the subject of the sentence is
  doing something (the verb).
• Examples
• Steve ate the pizza.
• Jennifer and I measured the wall.

Verb
Subject
Subject
Verb
3
When Do We Use Active Voice?

• Almost always, Active Voice is the way to go!
• Active Voice Power and Vigor
• Microsoft Word will even tell you passive voice
  is wrong!
• Dont worry, though its not always wrong.

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What is Passive Voice?

• In Passive Voice, the subject isnt doing the
  verb anymore.
• Instead, the subject has the verb done to it.
• Examples
• The pizza was eaten by Steve.
• The wall was measured by Jennifer and me.

Verb
Subject
Verb
Subject
5
Passive Voice Eliminate the Agent

• In Passive Voice, we often just remove the
  Agent the who or what is actually doing the
  action to the subject.
• Examples
• The pizza was eaten by Steve.
• The pizza was eaten.
• The wall was measured by Jennifer and me.
• The wall was measured.

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When Should We Use Passive Voice?

• Scientific and Mathematical Writing Lab
  Reports, etc.
• When it does not matter who or what did the
  action, just that the action got done.
• When you dont want to reveal who or what did the
  action.
• When you want to emphasize the object of the
  verb.
• To add some variety to our usual writing use
  sparingly.

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Passive Voice in Action

• When you dont want to reveal who or what did the
  action or want to emphasize the object of the
  verb.
• Examples
• No food in the hallways.
• Full Version No food in the hallways by order of
  the administrators.
• (Active) The administrators ordered that there
  will be no food in the hallways.
• This allows us to hide who ordered the rule so
  they dont look bad and it emphasizes the No
  food in the hallways rather than who ordered it.

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Passive Voice In Action for Us!

• Does not matter who or what did the action, just
  that the action got done.
• Exactly what scientific mathematical writing
  requires.
• Creates the feeling of accuracy and lack of
  personal bias.
• Leaves the work open for anyone to do not just
  the people who did it.

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Passive Voice for Our Rooftop Lab

• Example
• Active We measured the height of the wall and
  found it be 79 tall.
• Passive with Agent The height of the wall was
  measured and found to be 79 tall by us.
• Passive without Agent The height of the wall was
  measured and found to be 79.
• Better The height of the wall was found to be
  79.

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Passive Voice for Our Rooftop Lab

• Example
• Active I then multiplied the two measurements
  together to find the area of the wall.
• Passive with Agent The two measurements were
  then multiplied together to find the area of the
  wall by me.
• Passive without Agent The two measurements were
  then multiplied together to find the area of the
  wall.
• Better The two measurements were then multiplied
  together and revealed an area of 27 4.

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Try Converting Active to Passive

• The students turned in all their papers on time.
• The papers were all turned in on time by the
  students.
• OR
• The papers were all turned in on time.

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Try Converting Active to Passive

• Our group needed to subtract the area of the
  windows in the wall from the total area of the
  wall.
• The area of the windows in the wall needed to be
  subtracted from the total area of the wall by our
  group.
• OR, much better
• The area of the windows in the wall needed to be
  subtracted from the total area of the wall.

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Final Thoughts

• More and more scientific writers are moving to
  Active Voice because it is so much easier to read
  and understand.
• Be prepared for either type of voice in lab
  writing some will still insist on Passive.
• Good Rule If Passive Voice sounds stupid or is
  too hard to understand, go with Active!