MY column last week ("When even the passive voice isn't enough," EPS 2238) further emphasized that our writing shouldn't totally rely on the active voice and that the passive voice is by itself a powerful device for precisely crafting our sentences to an intended context. The active voice is arguably a very handy and effective default vehicle for expressing our ideas, but the passive voice is actually our most suitable choice when we need to call attention and give more emphasis to the receiver of the action, the instrument used in the action, or to the action itself.
Again, let's look closely at this basic English clause pattern: "Alicia [subject, as actor] gave [verb, as the action] Roberto [indirect object, as the beneficiary or receiver of the action] a tender hug [direct object, as the goal]."
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