Grammar describes how language works; Grammar can help us understand sentences even if we don’t know the meaning of all the words in a sentence. While there are many good grammar books out there, this article will focus on the importance of the passive and active voice in policies and procedures.
Passive voice is an obstacle to clearly writing policies and procedures. Passive writing is easier to show than to explain. Take this sentence, “The work was written by the student.” With active voice writing, the sentence is written as “The student wrote the article.” See the difference? Which one do you like the most? I hope you like the last sentence. A sentence is called passive because its subject does not perform or initiate the active indicated by the verb. Rather, the subject receives the action.
Obviously, active writing is preferred over passive writing on policies and procedures. But this is where the ball stops. Active writing is more difficult than free-flowing passive writing style. We can all write passively. But writing requires active thinking. While active writing is great for instruction manuals (or desk procedures or work instructions), it is not always the best way to write for business policies and procedures. I leave you this choice, but I advise you to test the waters to see if active writing would be better for your readers than passive writing.
Tea Red flag because the passive voice is a variation of an auxiliary verb (was, will be, have been, is being) plus a past participle (constructed, written, directed) plus by if the actor is mentioned. Then tell meWhich of the following two sentences do you prefer?
- The new account executive was hired by the sales manager.
- The sales manager hired the new account executive.
If you answered # 2, then you got it right. This second sentence is in active voice and is cleaner and easier to read. Now here’s the hard part; it is very difficult to write with an active voice all the time as is so obvious in my own books. Readers will love it if you can keep your writing voice active. Now, on the other hand, I doubt your readers will see the difference if you just show them passive writing. Sad but true.
And finally, the passive voice makes sense sometimes. To say that the passive voice is never appropriate is to misinterpret it. Here’s an example where the passive voice makes sense. If the person performing a particular action is unknown, the following sentences are fine:
- The accident occurred because the machinery had not been repaired.
- Batteries are not included … sounds like a good name for a movie title.
My advice is to do your best to write in the active voice writing style, but don’t worry if you have to use the passive voice from time to time. And please don’t apologize for writing in a passive voice. And if you have any criticism, ask them to join your team and help you write better.
