The Cerebral  Writer
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
  • Links

Words From the Grammar Nazi: Passives and Participles

6/22/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
She’ll point out every little mistake. She’ll scream at you for using comma splices and split infinitives. She has no tolerance for fragments and run-ons. Today, she’s taken over the Cerebral Writer, and hate her if you will, she does know her grammar (and she only wants to help). Today’s lesson: understanding the difference between participles and passive voice and when it's appropriate to use them.

Participles in Progressive Tenses

I’d like to begin by pointing out a common mistake: that all constructions using certain helping verbs (am, is, are, was, were) are passive. This is not the case. Many participle constructions also contain uses of these words but are not passive. For example:

It was going over there.

The above construction uses the participle phrase “It was going over” to create the past progressive verb tense. This is an active construction. “It” is acting (going over there), not being acted upon. A passive equivalent of the sentence would be:

It was being taken over there.

See the difference? In the first example, “it was going” is different than “it was being taken” (by someone).  

However, this kind of construction does weaken the prose when used without a simple verb tense construction to play against. Using “It was over there” on its own weighs down the prose. However, if you anchor it with a simple tense adverbial clause using “when,” “while,” “as,” “since,” “because,” and the like, you create a reference point that makes the progressive relevant:

It was going over there when I last checked.

Just like with passive voice, use progressive tenses sparingly … but don’t cut them out completely. There is a place for both. You just have to know how to use them and do so with purpose.

Now, a Bit of Advice on Passive Voice

If you’ve done any amount of writing and received any reasonable amount of feedback, you’ve received at least some advice about the so-called evils of passive voice. “Never use it,” many will say. Real writers use only strong, “active” prose.

Well, I’m here to tell you there is a place for passive voice. Beyond technical writing and scientific papers, which typically call for enough passive voice use to make any hater’s head spin, there are a handful of instances where passive voice is warranted. (See what I just did there?) ;-)

These are the most relevant examples:

·   When the object doesn’t need mentioning or would create redundancy:
           ·   The papers had already been corrected.

·   When the subject is unknown:
          ·   The bathroom was occupied.

·   When you want to focus on the object more than the subject:
           ·   The fire had been started by an arsonist.

·   When you want to pull your readers in to a character’s feeling of helplessness or lack of control:
           ·   Her hands had been tied behind her back.

·   When you want to add a deceptive tone to the prose:
           ·   He swore he was nowhere nearby when the car was stolen.

While you might have readers who also do not know the rules, there is always a chance that editors, agents, or reviewers reading your work do. If you take the time to know and understand these rules, your writing will be sharper and you will be able to present it to the world with confidence and skill.

Until next time, my pretties! (Insert evil cackle.)


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Privacy Policy:

    No names or e-mail addresses listed in blog post replies will result in mailing list additions or sharing/sales to other sites via the Cerebral Writer.

    All email addresses, unless added intentionally to the body text of a post or response, will remain hidden from public view.

    Archives

    April 2021
    November 2018
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008


    Categories

    All
    Aftermath
    Animals
    Anthologies
    Awards
    Bestseller List
    Bizarro
    Blogging
    Classics
    Contests
    Critical Analysis
    Dystopia
    Edgar Allan Poe
    Editors
    Excerpts
    Film
    Finding Poe
    Flash Fiction
    God
    Grammar
    Guest Blogs
    Horror
    Humanitarians
    Interviews
    Jane The Hippie Vampire
    Language
    Leigh M. Lane
    Literary Fiction
    Lupus
    Marketing
    Movies
    Muses
    Musicians
    My Books
    Myths Of Gods
    My Writing
    My Writing
    Nook
    Novellas
    On Writing
    On Writing
    Opinion
    Other Great Authors
    Paying It Forward
    Pirates
    Poetry
    Racism
    Redrafting
    Revelations
    Reviews
    Rod Serling
    Screenplays
    Self Publishing
    Short Stories
    Speculative Fiction
    Television
    The Hidden Valley
    The Private Sector
    The Twilight Zone
    This Site
    Trailers
    Urban Fantasy
    Vampires
    Weird Western
    Words
    World Mart
    Zombies

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.