LogFAQs > #967392668

If you use it too much, it reads like things are happening but nobody is actually doing anything. "The door was opened" versus "Bob opened the door." But the passive voice has its purpose. Sometimes you want to obscure a motive or create a more generalized impression. "Never use the passive voice" is one of those "writing rules" that some people have latched onto and treat like a commandment from God, which it is not.

I get into far too many quibbles about this since I work as an editor. Sometimes proofreaders will go through a manuscript and mercilessly remove every instance of the passive voice without considering why it's being used.