As a copy editor, Grammar Girl's posts are very helpful- like an AP Style guide in blog form. Today I read Grammar Girl's article on writing in an active vs. passive voice. It was an interesting and clear article, but the main things I learned were:
1. The easy way of identifying the difference: keep the action on the subject.
(Steve loves Amy. If that sentence said, Amy is loved by Steve, which is the passive voice, the subject and focus is changed from Steve to Amy.)
2. An active voice is easier for a general audience to comprehend.
3. A passive voice is good for an open ended statement or an unknown subject. (Politicians often use a passive voice to smooth statements over, such as, "Bombs were dropped". Or crime reports may say, "The store was robbed", because the robber is unknown.)
4. A passive voice is sometimes good for objectivity in scientific writing. (In order to keep objectivity, a passive voice would be written, "The data shows a result of...", instead of, "We tested the subject and the results were...".)
5. An active voice keeps writing tighter and less wordy. (The song title by Marvin Gaye, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" wouldn't be quite as catchy if it were, "It Was Heard By Me Through the Grapevine".
The section about crime reporting or mystery novels was most interesting, because of it's focus on keeping the subject anonymous, which is very important in some cases; however, I would like to learn more about those little unknown exceptions where a passive voice is preferred over an active one.
Thanks Grammar Girl!
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