Kids Corner: Writing in the passive voice

So now at school you need to improve your writing for non-fiction. Fiction means written stories, non-fiction means written facts, or reference books. Dictionaries, textbooks, and books about real people like the Pope are non-fiction.

One of the best ways to sound good when you are writing non-fiction is to use the passive voice. Have a look at these two examples:

1.       Jason broke the photocopier this morning.

2.       The photocopier was broken the morning.

First of all, Jason needs to stop kicking photocopiers, those things are expensive. Secondly, sentence number 1 is ACTIVE. We have a person (Jason) doing (verb – kick) something to someone or something (photocopier). Number 2 is PASSIVE. The person has been removed, and the object (photocopier) has been moved to the beginning of the sentence top show it is important and the focus. The grammar has changed too:

1.       Jason broke – Past simple

2.       The photo copier was broken – past simple passive

The passive voice is used a lot to write very posh sounding essays, and reports at work, and it is a really good way of hiding who did something! In number 2 Jason gets away with the photocopier kicking… You can put who did it back in by adding “by Jason” at the end – “The photocopier was broken by Jason”. Sorry Jason!

Here are some more examples:

1.       People throw away tons of plastic packaging every year (active)

2.       Tons of plastic packaging are thrown away every year (passive)

Do you see how the first example seems quite simple, and the second example focusses on the important thing (tons of plastic) and begins with this? It also sounds more official! We have also taken out “by people” because it seems obvious, who else would do it? It’s a nice clean and posh sentence now.

1.       Wild Chimps in Guinea drink tree sap which contains alcohol! (active)

2.       Tree sap, which contains alcohol, is drunk by wild chimps! (passive)

1.       A grizzly bear can crush a bowling ball with its jaws (active)

2.       A bowling ball can be crushed by the jaws of a Grizzly Bear (passive).

So next time you are asked to write something that is non-fiction (not a story) see if you can try out some passive voice in your writing. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, it is your teacher’s job to help you learn from mistakes! Get your passive voice out and sound posh, official, and possibly hide the fact that Jason cannot stop kicking photocopiers.

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