Sometimes we should record ourselves when giving writing advice. Over the years, I have heard some disturbing compliments from people who took one or more of my writing workshops. What they said showed me that they did not understand the teaching point. In other words, I did not get the job done. That hurts. I am devoting a dozen posts on these teaching points to set the record straight.
Compliment: "Thanks to you, I never use passive voice."Reality: I have never told anyone to never use passive voice. The people who have claimed I have either do not know the difference between active and passive voice despite my having taught it to them, or they do not mean never.
Intention: I have written a lot about passive voice in my book The Art of On-the-Job Writing and on this blog. I know the value of passive voice, so I would not tell writers to never use it. Nevertheless, using passive voice could cause ambiguity, wordiness, or awkwardness, and using active voice could create clarity, conciseness, and fluency. For these reasons, I do tell students (1) to know the difference between active and passive voice, (2) to prefer active voice, and (3) to practice transposing passive voice to active voice and vice-versa.
The posts in this blog on passive voice (type "passive voice" in the search bar) should prove useful if you need help in this area.
