Being Upstaged

While it is easy to understand the concept of an actor being upstaged, allowing someone or something else to be the main focus, some writers inadvertently use a passive voice when writing and allow their characters or even themselves to be “upstaged”.

When you use a passive voice you make the object the subject and vice-versa.  Consider “I was hit by the Frisbee” versus “the Frisbee hit me”. In the first sentence “I” was the injured party (the subject), in the second example “the Frisbee” was the do-er or the active participant. An active voce sentence is Subject+Verb+Object. In a passive voice, the Object takes prominence such as Object+Verb [past tense]+(by)+Subject.

Most editors favor the active voice, however there are times when using the passive voice is preferred. If the intention is to obscure the thought such as when a politician says “Mistakes were made” (without laying specific blame) or to imply some mystery as in “They were being watched”, then passive is correct. If you are reporting on an unsolved crime then you don’t know WHO did the act so it is appropriate to say “the store was robbed”. Scientists are often encouraged to report their findings in a passive voice so that they sound objective in their writing.

Active represents the “doing”, who does the action; passive uses some form of “to be” followed by a past participle (verb ending in “ed” or equivalent). The “to be” can be in the form of is, are, am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being. Watch the meaning of these verbs though before labeling a sentence passive – “He HAS to do the dishes” marks something he MUST do; “She is driven” is the state of mind.

The passive voice may not be as clear in the story – “The family was fed” by whom? vs. “Dad fed the family”. Or “The village was taught how to plant crops” by whom? vs “The missionaries taught the villagers how to plant crops”. The focus, or the action/achievement is taken away from the true object of the sentence )dad and the missionaries). You should also use the passive voice when you are deliberately trying to draw attention to the thing that is being acted upon such as a charitable cause – “All profits will go towards helping 9/11 victim families” versus “You can donate to the 9/11 fund”.

Remember that in the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb.  Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error, there are times when it is in your best interest to keep the subject hidden or vague. Even the first person  narrative  can be in the passive voice, “I was struck by a mugger”. You can easily turn most passive sentences into active ones simply by changing the order of the words and placing the object in front of the verb with the subject (target) following.

Writing Exercise:  Determine whether each of the following sentences is passive or active – and then rewrite them so the passive becomes active and active becomes passive. (change the focus of each sentence). Example) “He knocked the platter off of the table” or “the platter was knocked off the table”.

1)The walls shook during the earthquake.
2) He gave his girlfriend a ring.
3) The toddler pulled the chair down on top of her.
4) The game was played by the children.
5) The doctor told the patient bad news.
6) She voted for the best candidate.
7) The chicken stew burnt.
8) He threw out the garbage.
9) I worked all day on a difficult project.
10) The cat purred while dad was petting him.

Writing Prompt: Finish the sentences with the FIRST word you think of:

1) Red makes me think of _____.
2) I wanted to _____ so much!
3) The last time I cried I saw _____.
4) When I drink too much, my head feels all _____.
5) Do you think she will like my _____.
6) Happy days are here! I just got my _____.
7) I hate _____.
8) I remember him for _____.
9) The flowers were _____.
10) I want _____.