Nobody Likes a Passive Sardine Sandwich

Breaking News Bulletin: Both the active and passive voice are correct if used properly. It's simply a matter of personal preference, context and consistency!

The sardine sandwich kicked the whale = active


The whale was kicked by the sardine sandwich = passive


These examples convey the same idea, but your personal preference might be the first sentence.

There are absolutely no absolutes in writing.

Contrary to what you may have been told, it is perfectly proper and in some cases more logical to use a passive voice in your prose, at least some of the time.

For instance:

1. When you want to draw primary attention to the person or thing acted upon rather than the character causing the action, and/or

2. When the character causing the action in the situation isn't important to what you are trying to convey to the reader

Effective Passive examples:

The sardine sandwich was apparently devoured by the hungry whale.

Fear of being eaten by the whale consumed the existence of the sardine sandwich.

The sardine sandwich is the star and the only one we care about so it makes logical sense to describe the action using the passive voice.

Active Example:

The whale ate the sardine sandwich

(Active and effective, but it doesn't convey what I want to convey, i.e. that the sardine sandwich met a tragic demise. If I wanted it to center around the Whale I could have called this article "Nobody likes a passive whale")