Passive Voice

The passive voice is often maligned by grammazons as a bad writing habit. Or, to put it in the active voice, grammazons across the English-speaking world malign the passive voice as a bad writing habit.

In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and, you guessed it, more active. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in the sentence. With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other performer of the verb. (In case you weren’t paying attention, the previous two sentences use the type of voice they describe.)

But the passive voice is not incorrect. In fact, there are times when it can come in handy. Read on to learn how to form the active and passive voices, when using the passive voice is a good idea, and how to avoid confusing it with similar forms.

Forming the Passive Voice

While tense is all about time references, voice describes whether the grammatical subject of a clause performs or receives the action of the verb. Here’s the formula for the active voice: [subject]+[verb (performed by the subject)]+[optional object]

Chester kicked the ball.

In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the action of the verb. So, the ball from the above sentence, which is receiving the action, becomes the subject. The formula: [subject]+[some form of the verb to be]+[past participle of a transitive verb]+[optional prepositional phrase]

The ball was kicked by Chester.

That last little bit—“by Chester”—is a prepositional phrase that tells you who the performer of the action is. But even though Chester is the one doing the kicking, he’s no longer the grammatical subject. A passive voice construction can even drop him from the sentence entirely:

The ball was kicked.

How’s that for anticlimactic?

When to use the passive voice

That said, there are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an idea, especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are three common uses of the passive voice: 1 Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators

My car was stolen yesterday.

If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The passive voice emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft. 2 Scientific contexts

The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.

Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the experiment they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice. 3 When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of the action is irrelevant or distracting:

The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.

How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in presidents? Clearly the occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing to emphasize here. In each of the above contexts, the action itself—or the person or thing receiving the action—is the part that matters. That means the performer of the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent from the sentence altogether.

Getting away with the passive voice in writing

The above examples show some formal uses of the passive voice, but some writers take advantage of the shift in emphasis it provides for other reasons. Here are moments when the passive voice is a stylistic decision that suits the author’s writing goals. 1 Avoid getting blamed There are times when you want to get away with something without making it crystal-clear who’s at fault. The classic example:

“Mistakes were made.” —most politicians

Who made them? Is anyone taking responsibility? What’s the solution here? One political scientist dubbed this structure the “past exonerative” because it’s meant to exonerate a speaker from whatever foul they may have committed. In other words, drop the subject, get off the hook.

2 Beat around the bush

Jane Austen is a master of poking fun at her characters so euphemistically that it seems almost polite, and the passive voice is one of her favorite methods for doing that.

“[He] pressed them so cordially to dine at Barton Park every day till they were better settled at home that, though his entreaties were carried to a point of perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offense.” —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Austen could have rephrased this sentence like so:

“Though Mr. Middleton carried his entreaties to a point of perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offense.”

Though maybe she means something closer to:

“Mr. Middleton pushed his invitations beyond the point of politeness and into pushiness, but he still meant well.”

In cases like this, the passive voice allows for more polite phrasing, even if it’s also a little less clear.

3 Make your reader pay more attention to the something

This is like the president getting sworn in: the thing that gets the action of the verb is more important than the people performing the action.

“That treasure lying in its bed of coral, and the corpse of the commander floating sideways on the bridge, were evoked by historians as an emblem of the city drowned in memories.” —Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Here, you could invert the sentence to say “Historians evoked that treasure (and so on).” But that would take the focus away from that oh-so-intriguing treasure and the corpse. And since the historians are less important here, the author makes the choice to stress the key idea of the sentence through the passive voice.

Here’s another famous example that puts the emphasis on what happens to the subject, instead of on what the subject is doing:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” —The Declaration of Independence, 1776

“All men” (and these days, women, too) get boosted to the front of the phrase because their equality and rights are the focus. It makes sense that a statement declaring independence would focus on the people who get that independence, after all.

So writers use it. Can you?

The above examples lean toward the literary side of things, but don’t forget that there are times when the passive voice is useful and necessary in daily life. In each of the sentences below, the passive voice is natural and clear. Rewriting these sentences in the active voice renders them sterile, awkward, or syntactically contorted. Passive: Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident. Active: A motorcycle accident injured Bob Dylan. Passive: Elvis is rumored to be alive. Active: People rumor Elvis to be alive. Passive: Don’t be fooled! Active: Don’t allow anything to fool you!

Seriously, Don’t Be Fooled

Deciding when to use the passive voice can be tricky. Identifying it can be even trickier.

Chester’s favorite activity is kicking. The bank robbery took place just before closing time. There is nothing we can do about it. There were a great number of dead leaves covering the ground.

Despite what any well-meaning English teachers may have told you, none of the sentences above are written in the passive voice. The sentence about the leaves, in fact, was (wrongly) presented as an example of the passive voice by none other than Strunk and White in The Elements of Style. Here’s how to remember: using the verb to be doesn’t automatically put a verb phrase into the passive voice. You also need a past participle. That’s how to keep passive voice masqueraders from fooling you.

The gist is summed up here:

The passive voice isn’t a grammatical error; it’s a matter of style Use the active voice if it makes your sentence sound clearer and more natural Forming passive voice requires the verb “to be” and a past participle The passive voice is your friend when the thing receiving an action is the important part of the the sentence—especially in scientific and legal contexts, times when the performer of an action is unknown, or cases where the subject is distracting or irrelevant When it comes to good writing, don’t be passive—even if your sentences sometimes need to be.

How to Network: 5 Simple Ways to Stand Out

Want to advance your career? Expanding your network can play a huge role in your success, but for many of us networking events can feel intimidating, panic-inducing, or just plain awkward.

So how do you set yourself apart from the job-seeking hordes, and still retain your dignity?

Whether you have no idea how to network or just want some pointers for upping your game, here are five simple ways you can stand out from the competition.

1Create a Personal Connection

When you head into a networking situation, you may have some important career-goals you want to accomplish, like landing a new job, finding a mentor, or raising funds for your current venture. If you’re feeling tempted (or pressured) to go into full-on sales mode with everyone in your path, it’s time to slow your roll.

Effective networking is all about kindling new relationships—not frantically exchanging business cards with twenty people who won’t remember you.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, take the time to connect with two or three key people on a personal level. Head in with the mindset that you’re there to make friends—not to get a job interview or hawk your wares. If you treat other human beings like stepping stones or cash dispensers, they’re going to pick up on that vibe.

So instead of droning on with a laundry list of why you’re awesome, try having a genuine conversation. Keep the elevator pitch of what you do to about thirty seconds, and make sure you’re asking questions and listening to the other person.

Connect with them on any interests and experiences you have in common. Maybe you both love to travel, grew up in the same area, or have kids. If you know you’ll be meeting specific people, do some homework ahead of time so you’ll have an idea of the key topics that interest them.

2Invest in the Relationship

Once you’ve established a personal connection with someone, it’s important to continue fostering the relationship. Follow up with them by email within twenty-four hours.

Show them you’re a valuable contact with a lot to offer. This can be as simple as:

• Sharing a helpful article that’s relevant to your conversation.
• Giving a referral for a service they need (like a great graphic designer or financial planner).
• Offering to help out with their passion project.

Be a generous giver and don’t expect or imply that you want anything in return. Positioning yourself as an asset will set you apart from the chorus of voices constantly asking them for things.

Make a point of keeping in touch and suggest meeting up for coffee or lunch if it feels appropriate.

When the time comes that you do have an ask, they’ll be happy to help you out since they know you personally and appreciate the ways you’ve helped them.

When that coveted job opening comes up, you’ll be the first person they think of.

3Promote Their Work

What if your networking prospects are mainly online instead of in-person? Reaching out to create a personal connection “virtually” can feel overwhelming. Sure, you could take your chances with cold-emailing, but it’s always smart to start establishing a relationship before putting an ask out there.

A great way to build connections with people is to engage with the work they’re doing.

Have a favorite thought leader you’d love to interview for your podcast? Read their blog posts, leave intelligent comments, share your favorite posts, and remember to tag them.

Want to get published on a particular site? Start following the journalist writing about your niche topic. Engage with and share their work. Tweet a quote from their latest article and mention the author—they’ll likely retweet it.

People are much happier to engage with you when they see that you’re genuinely interested and you care about the work they’re doing.

4Connect Through Body Language

If you do get to meet folks in person at a networking event, be sure you’re building connection and trust through your body language.

Put away your phone and quit skulking in that dark corner. Be friendly and smile (this increases your perceived trustworthiness). Make great eye contact, show them they’re the center of your attention and you’re not just looking around for someone better to talk to.

Stand confidently with your feet pointing toward the person you’re conversing with. Keep your arms open (crossed arms communicate that you’re blocking people out).

If food and drinks are served, get them one at a time so you’ll always have a free hand to give a firm handshake. A handshake is a great way to both start and end a conversation.

5Play to Your Strengths

Not all networking situations will be a great fit for you. You’ll get the most out of your networking efforts by attending events where you know you’ll be able to shine.

Feel sharpest in the mornings? Sign up for the 7:00 a.m. breakfast. Confirmed night owl? Hit up the after-hours soiree. Love to mingle with the crowd? Head on over to that 500-person dinner.

Practice your conversation skills and body language in situations where you feel comfortable so you’ll have greater confidence when you attend events that push your boundaries.

And when you follow up with your new contacts, you can suggest activities that play to your strengths— whether that’s a one-on-one coffee date or drinks with a group of friends in your industry.

What Does Meta- Mean?

Meta is a word which, like so many other things, we have the ancient Greeks to thank for. When they used it, meta meant “beyond,” “after,” or “behind.” The “beyond” sense of meta still lingers in words like metaphysics or meta-economy. But that’s still not the meta most of us come across today.

One of the more popular uses of meta today is for the meaning best described by the formula “meta-X equals X about X.” So, if we take the word “data” for our X, and add the prefix meta- to it, we get metadata, or “data about data.” A meta-text is a text about texts, metacognition is thinking about thinking, and a meta-joke is a joke about jokes. The self-reflection sense of meta has also given rise to the use of the word as a standalone adjective, where meta is used to describe something that’s self-reflective or self-referencing.

The self-referencing sense of meta seems especially popular in art. In its simplest form, a book in which a character is writing a book or a movie in which a character is making a movie can be described as meta. Some works are more meta than others—the movie Birdman, for example, is a movie about an actor who played a superhero in a movie and who now tries to rekindle his career in theater, and that actor is played by an actor who really did play a superhero in a movie and is now trying to rekindle his career in a movie that looks more like a play than a movie.

When characters in a work of fiction act as if they are aware that they are in a work of fiction, this technique is called meta-referencing. It is often employed in metafiction, a work of fiction in which the author breaks with conventions in order to show that the work is, in fact, fiction.

In the world of gaming, meta is used in two ways. Meta can be used as an acronym for “most effective tactics available,” and calling something “meta” means that it’s an effective way to achieve the goal of the game, whether it’s to beat other players or beat the game itself. Meta can also be short for metagame, which is using information about the game, derived from the world beyond the game or its rules, to influence the outcome of the game or gain a competitive edge.

8 Things We Can All Learn From Elizabeth Kolbert

If you’re looking for an inspiring female author from whose work you might glean a few writerly pointers, you needn’t search far. Whether you’re a hardcore fiction buff or always hungry for a fresh memoir, the world of words is suffering no shortage of brilliant women.

Recent fiction luminaires include Hanya Yanagihara—a longtime writer by trade but a relative newcomer to the realm of novels. Her latest was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize and was a 2015 National Book Award finalist. Then there’s Karen Russell, the MacArthur “Genius” Grant winner whose debut novel was a 2012 Pulitzer finalist. And Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, another “Genius” Grant winner whose novels have garnered a string of awards, and whose speech “We should all be feminists” was sampled by Beyoncé.

The nonfiction side of writing also boasts an abundance of female heroes, like Emily Nussbaum, who won a 2016 Pulitzer for her prolific and thoughtful TV criticism, and her fellow New Yorker writer, Elizabeth Kolbert.

A journalist, author, and adventurer seasoned by more than three decades of writing experience, Kolbert is perhaps best known for her book The Sixth Extinction, which won a 2015 Pulitzer for nonfiction.

Kolbert’s writing is sharp, scientifically complex, politically fraught, and at times darkly funny. In short, she’s exactly the type of author worth studying for hints about the craft. Here are a few we’ve picked up:

1 Leave home. Talk to strangers.

Elizabeth Kolbert’s writing refuses to stay chained to a desk. Not content to muse from home about melting ice sheets, for instance, she journeys with scientists to the distant reaches of Greenland.

Indeed, Kolbert’s travels transport readers to far-flung places like the Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon rainforest, and an utterly wild preserve in the Netherlands. Along the way, she propels us forward using scenes with working experts, providing not just their scientific perspectives but also glimpses into their, er, natural habitats.

It’s the kind of writing that shows not everything has been done or written before—and that truth can be stranger than fiction. Make a habit of venturing outside your head and out into the world, and your writing will be indelible.

2 Show—and also tell.

You’ve probably run across that writerly dictum “show, don’t tell” before, but sometimes the situation calls for both. When Kolbert sets out to explain ocean acidification, she pulls on a wetsuit and takes us scuba diving. Any time she wants to describe a complex scientific finding based on an esoteric lab technique, she goes to the lab and has an expert walk us through the process.

This approach lets Kolbert grapple with wonky concepts (like geologic epochs) while still relating a concrete story (a hike to a rocky outcropping with a group of geologists). When you opt to show and tell, you deliver a bevy of facts in a story that’s more memorable than any sterile treatise.

3 Be adaptable.

It’s good to devise plans, but it’s also good to shred them if they’re not working or if other opportunities arise. In an interview with The Open Notebook, Kolbert relates one small adaptation she had to discover in the field, in order to take notes while swimming:

The most challenging thing was reporting underwater. That is the hardest thing—when you see these amazing things underwater, but what can you do? You can’t take notes. When I was in Hawaii snorkeling, the scientists had these plastic slates with a special pencil to keep track of their experiments, that you can write on underwater. They loaned me one of those, so I took all my notes on my plastic tablet and transcribed it when I got back to shore.

In that same interview, Kolbert also speaks to the process of making adjustments based on her subjects’ schedules:

I try to go on reporting trips when things are happening, but deadlines are complicated and things that only happen once a year are hard to plan around. For the book, a couple of times I tagged along on an expedition. Sometimes people kindly staged expeditions for me, but I had to work around their schedules. Some things took a year to schedule properly. You have a lot more time when it’s your own book. Or maybe you don’t really—my book was way overdue.

Be flexible when you can. Kolbert’s willingness to shrug off her book’s initial timetable eventually paid off with a Pulitzer-caliber result.

4 Let yourself appear in the work, once in a while.

The question of how often you, as the writer, should insert yourself into a story that isn’t expressly about you is often debated.

Kolbert doesn’t readily personalize every story she publishes, but she does occasionally step in and describe her own experiences—like a night she spent at a sleep center with electrodes on her scalp and tubes in her nose for a story about the science of insomnia. In The Sixth Extinction, for a section about backpacking in mountainous Peru, she includes an aside about a shopping bag full of coca leaves presented to her by an ecologist:

The leaves were leathery and tasted like old books. Soon my lips grew numb, and my aches and pains began to fade. An hour or two later, I was back for more. (Many times since have I wished for that shopping bag.)

Kolbert has chosen the setting of this chapter for other reasons, but having brought us here, she doesn’t shy away from a flavorful detail. This is the key: finding a happy middle ground that’s neither self-indulgent nor invisible.

5 Don’t let anyone tell you you’re unqualified.

Your writing doesn’t have to be circumscribed by your credentials. Elizabeth Kolbert is many things, but she is not a scientist. All the same, she’s not dissuaded from researching and sharing insights on subjects from colonizing Mars to the future of automation.

Sometimes what’s important isn’t so much technical expertise as the ability to do your homework and to zoom out and recognize what will be important to your audience.

6 Persist.

Just because recognition doesn’t come overnight doesn’t mean it’s not coming.

Kolbert began her career as a newspaper reporter in the mid-1980s; she headed the New York Times’ Albany bureau from 1988 to 1991. By the time she became a New Yorker staff writer in 1999, she’d been grinding out stories for some fifteen years. Even then, she was still years of hard work away from the National Magazine Award she eventually won for her 2005 series The Climate of Man.

Be patient; keep showing up and putting in the work.

7 Keep your readers guessing.

A reader who can easily predict what you’re about to say may not remain a reader for long. One way Kolbert keeps us hooked is by interjecting an occasional wry observation or utterly startling turn of phrase, as with the ending of this thought:

If nearly half the occupations in the U.S. are ‘potentially automatable,’ and if this could play out within ‘a decade or two,’ then we are looking at economic disruption on an unparalleled scale. Picture the entire Industrial Revolution compressed into the life span of a beagle.

Weren’t expecting that, were you? One other pointer we glean from Kolbert—this technique is most effective when applied sparingly; you don’t want to wear it out.

8 Enjoy the work.

Kolbert’s writing could hardly be called whimsical, and often gravitates to matters of extinction and survival. The subjects can feel as grim as a cave full of diseased bats in winter. But that doesn’t mean the day-to-day work of finding words for it is miserable; Kolbert makes a point of traveling to fascinating places and seeking out compelling characters.

Though few writers have the luxury of working exclusively on projects they cherish every minute of, the job doesn’t have to be a pure slog. Find and nurture the aspect of writing that drives you, and the rest will be that much easier.

How to Silence Your Internal Editor

I just wrote this sentence three times—twice to change the direction of my opening monologue, and once to fix some structural errors. I did all that picking and all those rewrites before I even wrote another sentence. It took me about five minutes.

Why did I fiddle so long with one sentence? I have a hard time getting my internal editor to quiet down, so I developed the habit of self-editing as I write. Yes, I eventually got the result I wanted, but it took more time than necessary and my writing ground to a halt while I was doing it. If picking at your writing sentence-by-sentence before you’ve even finished a first draft slows you down and makes you feel less creative, you may want to break the habit. You’ll not only stay more productive, but you’ll keep in the flow so you don’t lose a single bit of inspiration.

Of a number of scribes I hobnob with, I have only one writer friend who doesn’t complain about being unable to get out of her head and just get the words down. (She’s also very prolific. Make of that what you will.) Many of us, when we sit down to write, hear the voice of an inner critic rattling around inside our heads. My voice is so familiar and persistent that I’ve named him the editor demon—Ed for short. But just because I’ve given him a nickname doesn’t mean I think he’s cute. Quite the contrary, sometimes I wish he’d just shut up and let me write.

How do we muzzle our internal editors long enough to get some writing done? Many writers will tell you it’s a lifelong struggle. But there are a few techniques you can try to help you stay in the writing zone and leave editing for later.

Empty your brain closet

Part of learning to get along with Ed (you can name your editor demon Phil or Susan or whatever you like, but for continuity’s sake I’ll stick with Ed) comes with embracing the knowledge that first drafts are inherently messy.

Think of your brain in terms of a cluttered closet. You can’t find anything you’re looking for, but you know it’s in there somewhere. What’s the first step to cleaning out a closet? You take everything out and dump it someplace where you can go through it, scrap what’s not useful, sort what is, and put everything back in a logical order, tidying as you go.

The drafting process is the act of emptying your mental closet into a big, messy, jumbled pile. Only after you take inventory of everything you have can you actually start assembling your thoughts into something that makes sense and reads cleanly. So, whenever you catch Ed nagging you as you’re dumping words onto the page in your first draft, stop him. Remind him that you’ve got to get everything out of your brain closet first before you can tidy it all up. Then get back to writing.

Use a little CBT

CBT stands for cognitive behavior therapy, a rather broad term for certain behavior recognition and modification techniques used in psychological therapy. But you don’t have to be in therapy to put the power of CBT strategies to work for you. All it involves is the ability to recognize when you’re being too critical of your performance. Then, when you catch your inner critic giving you a hard time, you employ a little positive and rational self talk to get your mind back on track.

Let’s say you’re working on a piece of fiction and Ed simply won’t stop interrupting your writing jam to pick apart your work. He tells you that your writing is bad, and that you need to go back to fix it before you can carry on. Here’s how you might use CBT to silence his nagging voice.

Unhelpful thoughts

This first draft sucks—nothing is going right! My writing is horrible and I’m just spinning my wheels. I should give up.

Positive self talk

First drafts are born to be bad! Your writing isn’t horrible, it just needs polishing. You’ll edit later and everything will fall into place. Don’t give up. You’ve got this!

It sounds simplistic, but it works. Self-compassion has proven to be a more effective learning tool than self-criticism, but too often, we let our inner critics get away with bullying us. Would you critique a dear friend by telling him his first draft sucks? Of course you wouldn’t; you’d make a point of giving constructive feedback. Treat yourself with the same care and respect. You deserve it!

Mistakes make you smarter

A teacher of mine always said, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not learning.” She was right, too. When we treat our mistakes as a learning tool—that “teachable moment” you’re always hearing about in corporate culture—you’re more likely to grow and improve. People who think that success comes through hard work and dedicated practice are more likely to learn from their mistakes than those who think talent is innate and you either have it or you don’t.

When you’re being too self-critical, remind yourself that every mistake you make is an opportunity to learn. Brush Ed off your shoulder and tell him, “Quiet! I’m learning here.” Then, continue dumping that jumble of stuff into your draft, making glorious mistakes, confident in the knowledge that you’ll clean everything up when you’re done, and you’ll learn something in the process.

Respect your process

Self-editing as you write isn’t always bad, especially if you’ve learned not to be negative about it. If you’re capable of fixing your writing on the fly without beating yourself up, it could be that you’ve developed a level of comfort and competency that allows self-editing to work for you. Although it took me a while to write that all-important first sentence, once it was out of the way the rest of my article flowed smoothly, with a little editing here and there as I went. Better yet, when I was finished, all I needed was a quick proofreading pass and I was done. If you’re the sort of person who can edit as you write without feeling frustrated and creatively stifled, then go ahead and enjoy your writing superpower.

But Ed isn’t always welcome at my deskside. Sometimes, particularly when you’re digging into more emotional writing such as fiction or poetry, you don’t want to be interrupted by a pesky editor demon telling you that you’ve got to fix that typo or rework that sentence structure right now. When Ed won’t stop his endless critical chatter, just use the techniques I mentioned here. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and remind yourself that mistakes are part of writing a first draft. Now, write on! You’ve got this.

The Plural of Octopus: Octopi or Octopuses?

How do you make octopus plural? It’s simple!

The plural is octopuses. Why do some dictionaries also list octopi as a possibility? In Latin, some plurals end with an i. The problem is, octopus derives from Greek. The i was a mistake, but so many people adopted it that it became an acceptable alternative. Many people don’t like octopi, and you will rarely see it in edited works, but it does occasionally appear.

The clever octopuses snuck out of their tank at night.

Groups of more than two octopi are rarely seen in the wild.

.

Examples

This seems extraordinarily unfair: A dull-looking fish lives for centuries while the cuttlefish, in their chromatic splendor, and the octopuses, in their inquisitive intelligence, are dead before they are 2?

The New York Times

Octopuses use tools; they play; they can solve problems and puzzles; and they may even engage in warfare with improvised weapons.

Quartz

Sealy also said that drainage pipes combine two things octopi love, which is a cramped dark space and fish.

Daily Mail

The plural of octopus is almost as fascinating as the animal. What more can you learn about plurals and spelling?