“Except in stock locutions, such as "You were paid yesterday," "The Germans were defeated," or "The project was abandoned," the passive voice… — John Gardner Copy Share Image
'TIME's spell-check always admonishes me whenever I compose a sentence in the passive voice, a warning that is often ignored by me. — Richard Corliss Copy Share Image
“...passive voice is better than writing out a humongous number and taking the risk that your readers' brains will be numb by… — Mignon Fogarty Copy Share Image
“The first sign that you've evolved as a writer is when MS WORD fails to make you feel guilty by putting a… — Gaurav Sharma Copy Share Image
“Strunk and White don’t speculate as to why so many writers are attracted to passive verbs, but I’m willing to; I think… — Stephen King Copy Share Image
“The spelling in the honors essays was mostly correct, and the diction was clear (although my cautious college-bound don’t-take-a-chancers had an irritating… — Stephen King Copy Share Image
“As you listen to political speech, notice those occasions when politicians and other leaders use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for… — Roy Peter Clark Copy Share Image
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Never use a long… — George Orwell Copy Share Image
Each time I see a split infinitive, an inconsistent tense structure or the unnecessary use of the passive voice, I blister. — Sonia Sotomayor Copy Share Image
Some of the worst writing around suffers from inert verbs and the unintended use of the passive voice. Yet the passive voice… — Constance Hale Copy Share Image
“We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice… — Sydney J. Harris Copy Share Image
Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Proofread… — William Safire Copy Share Image
The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Copy Share Image
“Not long ago, I advertised for perverse rules of grammar, along the lines of "Remember to never split an infinitive" and "The… — William Safire Copy Share Image
The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of… — Benjamin Lee Whorf Copy Share Image
“Two pages of the passive voice—just about any business document ever written, in other words, not to mention reams of bad fiction—make… — Stephen King Copy Share Image
“Messrs. Strunk and White don’t speculate as to why so many writers are attracted to passive verbs, but I’m willing to; I… — Stephen King Copy Share Image
All research scientists know that writing in the passive voice is artificial; they are not disembodied observers, but people doing research. — Rupert Sheldrake Copy Share Image
Using the passive voice is always very helpful. Mind you, a lot of that propaganda English emanates from here. The British establishment… — John Pilger Copy Share Image
“She even tried to teach us the difference between active voice—“I snarfed the Oreos”—and passive voice—“The Oreos got snarfed.” — Laurie Halse Anderson Copy Share Image
“One of the most commonly used American history textbooks is The Americans: Reconstruction to the 21st Century. A thousand-page volume, published by… — Richard Rothstein Copy Share Image
