Although passive verbs certainly have their place, it’s good to remind ourselves from time to time of how much more power we find in active constructions.
A literary novel I read recently offered just such a reminder—by way of prose absolutely stuffed with passive verbs. Midway through the book’s first chapter, I stumbled upon an especially egregious paragraph, which contained eight passive sentences, one after the other, with nary an active verb in sight.
Although not inherently problematic, this slew of passivity robbed this particular paragraph of any chance of energy and motion. The characters and their actions just laid there, flat on the page, like a stuffy room waiting for someone to open the window and let in a breeze.
Don’t let this happen to your paragraphs. Keep your sentences moving forward with a judicious mix of verbs—more active than passive.
But don’t grab the first action verb that comes along. Dig under the surface of your prose until you find words that convey just the right meaning and, when appropriate, those that are original enough to help a reader see an old action in a new way.
