General Writing styles

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Simpleman

Simpleman

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Jan 15, 2015
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Active vs passive writing. Who else here (without using google) knows the difference? What are your benefits over using one over the other? I can read and comprehend the subject matter either way but not a huge fan of having to use one specific way to write. Just looking for another point of view.
 
Pitbull9

Pitbull9

Daddy
Jan 28, 2015
9,832
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Simpleman said:
Active vs passive writing. Who else here (without using google) knows the difference? What are your benefits over using one over the other? I can read and comprehend the subject matter either way but not a huge fan of having to use one specific way to write. Just looking for another point of view.
Click to expand...
I think depending on what you are writing (genre) you need to invoke both. I think you will only be using one way if you are telling some type of story from one pov.
 
Splinty

Splinty

Shake 'em off
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
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Simpleman said:
Active vs passive writing. Who else here (without using google) knows the difference? What are your benefits over using one over the other? I can read and comprehend the subject matter either way but not a huge fan of having to use one specific way to write. Just looking for another point of view.
Click to expand...

Active writing is more impactful.
Passive voice is highly discouraged in the military.
It leads to ambiguity of the intent.

In applying to med school, you take a test that has a totally bizarre verbal section. Some people just get it. Others struggle. You read a passage and then answer questions like, "which of the following would the author most agree? " Then the answer choices are about politics while the passage was pros and cons of hot air balloons. One of the secrets is the author often uses active voice on the side they most support and passive voice on the other. If you just translate the subjects, and not the tone, you have a hard time answering the questions. If you are adept at picking up active and passive voice, you quickly sense which position the author most supports.
 
Simpleman

Simpleman

First 100
First 100
Jan 15, 2015
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Splinty said:
Active writing is more impactful.
Passive voice is highly discouraged in the military.
It leads to ambiguity of the intent.

In applying to med school, you take a test that has a totally bizarre verbal section. Some people just get it. Others struggle. You read a passage and then answer questions like, "which of the following would the author most agree? " Then the answer choices are about politics while the passage was pros and cons of hot air balloons. One of the secrets is the author often uses active voice on the side they most support and passive voice on the other. If you just translate the subjects, and not the tone, you have a hard time answering the questions. If you are adept at picking up active and passive voice, you quickly sense which position the author most supports.
Click to expand...
Ive taken my share of difficult tests but on that one I would have just closed the book and said fuck it, Im going to be a LPN (before anyone cries and bitches Im not saying that those people arent intelligent or that they dont have difficult jobs as well at all, just being humerous).
 
sparkuri

sparkuri

Pulse On The Finger Of The Community
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I know not of what you speak, foreign it is to me.
 
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Passive writing is essential to keeping focus on a particular object or process when the agent is unknown or established.
 
Hauler

Hauler

Been fallin so long it's like gravitys gone
Feb 3, 2016
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blank said:
Passive writing is essential to keeping focus on a particular object or process when the agent is unknown or established.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

Like...

The writer focused on the unknown object.
vs
The unknown object was focused upon by the writer.

Shit like that?
 
1

1031

Guest
Hauler said:
I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

Like...

The writer focused on the unknown object.
vs
The unknown object was focused upon by the writer.

Shit like that?
Click to expand...
That's what I was getting at, but it's unclear to me if that was the intended interpretation of passive writing. If it's not that then I'm lost...and not for the first time.

Courtroom language seems to employ passive constructions in an effort to keep the focus on a victim,plaintiff, property, etc.

Which is more the accurate statement if you saw your car being driven off:
Your car was stolen?
Someone stole your car?

Is one better than the other or does it depend?
 
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