WTG 14: Active Voice, Passive Voice, and “Nouniness” Voice  the relationship between a subject and a verb Active Voice  when the subject performs the action Luke Skywalker defeated the Dark Side. S V Passive Voice  when the subject receives the action The Dark Side was defeated by Luke Skywalker. S V The use of active voice promotes force and emphasis. The verbs do something: move sentences, describe actions, and energize language. The actor (subject) is clearly defined, and the verb usually consists of only one word. • Active voice first answers the question, “Who is doing the action?” • Active voice then answers the question, “What is the action?” Passive voice is used when the recipient of the action is emphasized more than the actor or the action itself. Passive voice is often used in legal and scientific writing because the description of the action (experiment, crime, etc.) is more significant than the person performing the action. • Passive voice can actually leave out the actor: The Dark Side was defeated. Who defeated the Dark Side? The sentence above does not tell us. • The Dark Side was defeated by Luke Skywalker. This sentence emphasizes that the Dark Side was defeated rather than who defeated it. Most literary writing uses present tense and active voice in order to promote direct and concise language. To eliminate passive voice, highlight all forms of “to have” and “to be” in your writing (“to be”—am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been; “to have”—have, has, had). NOTE: Not all “to be” and “to have” verbs are passive voice. However, these are still weak verbs and can often be changed to stronger or more descriptive words. • The unfinished Death Star is a symbol of the incomplete fulfillment of evil. The unfinished Death Star symbolizes the incomplete fulfillment of evil. • Darth Vader has a desire to defeat the Rebellion. Darth Vader aspires to defeat the Rebellion. Eliminating weak verbs prevents “nouniness” or the creation of –ion or –ence nouns from verb forms. Replacing them with their verb forms clarifies your language and eliminates wordiness. • I have a preference for the first Star Wars movie, but she has a loathing for all of them. I prefer the first Star Wars movie, but she loathes all of them.