Passive Voice:
Mistakes Were Made



Here is an example of passive voice: "Cars are being stolen."
This raises a question: Who steals the cars? In other words, who is performing the action (stealing)?
One could say, "Cars are being stolen by old ladies," or even better, "Old ladies are stealing cars" (this indicates that actions occurs right now as you read this)
or "Old ladies steal cars" (this indicates that old ladies have the potential to steal cars, but may or may not be doing so at the moment). Here's an old favorite: "A pig has been slapped."
Again, who is slapping the pigs?
Revised: "A fish is slapping a pig" (right now, a fish slaps a pig somewhere in the world).
or "Fish slap pigs" (fish have the tendency to slap pigs, but fish may or may not be slapping pigs at this exact moment in time).
Here's an instance of passive voice that raises a somewhat philosophical issue: "Students are flunked."
Who's responsible for this action? The teacher or the students? Is flunking an action (in which case I might be responsible)? Or is flunking a behavior (in which case the student is responsible)?

Curious about the philophical and ideological implications of using or not using passive voice? Passive voice posits a universe more akin to that of Eastern sensibilities in which things generate themselves--"the dragon comes into being" or "the universe makes itself." Not using the passive voice implies a Western mode of thinking in which everything is linear and exists in a subject/object or master/slave relationship.