Writers of grammar books tell us to avoid the passive voice.
Instead of writing, “The last piece of cake was eaten”, we should write “She ate the last piece of cake.”
I agree, and I tell my students to do the same. Learn to write in the active voice.
But, as Alan Jackson sang, “Here in the real word, it’s not that easy at all.”
Turns out, you can actually use the passive voice in a positive way. You can use it to save others from embarrassment.
For example, if you are trying to fix a mistake someone else made, focus on the mistake, not the person.
Instead of responding to an email with, “You didn’t send the attachment” write “The attachment never came through. Mind sending it again?”
The first sentence is an active sentence. And, likely to offend. It puts the blame on the sender.
The second sentence is passive. And, it might save the sender some embarrassment.
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