{"id":120,"date":"2014-04-29T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2014\/04\/29\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_29-2\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:16","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:16","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_29-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_29-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nSome authors believe all passive sentences are bad. They\u2019ve heard the
\nrule that all forms of to be<\/i> are to be<\/i> cut from their manuscripts. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLet\u2019s explain and debunk that myth.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nPassive sentences are those in which the subject of the sentence does
\nnot perform the action described in the sentence. Instead, the action is done
\nto the subject. Here\u2019s an example: The balloon was popped by the demon child.
\nThe balloon is our subject, and the action done to it was the popping of it by
\nthe demon child. A hint that the sentence is passive is the word by<\/i>, which denotes who did what to the
\nsubject.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA more precise and active sentence structure would be: The demon child
\npopped the balloon. In this example, the demon child is our subject. Popped is our verb and
\nthe balloon is our direct object.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEliminating passive sentences in our manuscript tightens the prose, but
\nit does something much more important. Passive sentences tend to keep a reader
\non the outside looking in. When the subject is constantly being \u201cdone to\u201d it is
\na form of telling. The writer is telling the reader what happened rather than
\nallowing the reader to experience it closely. Active sentences bring the reader
\ndeeper into the story.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThink of words as a picture. When we say, \u201cThe balloon was popped by
\nthe demon child,\u201d our brain sees it as already done. Past tense. The author is
\njust telling us that it occurred.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA more precise picture is painted when we write, \u201cThe demon child
\npopped the balloon.\u201d Yes, popped is past tense, but the sentence structure:
\nsubject\/verb\/direct object brings the picture immediacy.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA common mistake made by critique partners is to label every sentence
\nwith a to be<\/i> form of verb as passive.
\nOften that is the case, but the true test is the one mentioned above. The
\nsubject must be done to and not doing. Therefore, just because a sentence has an
\nis, are, was, were<\/i>, etc., doesn\u2019t make it passive. Though, most of those forms
\ncan be substituted for a more vibrant word that paints a better word picture.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd one more thought: while passive sentences should be few and far
\nbetween, there\u2019s a reason we have the construction. One good reason is an intent
\nby the author to be vague about casting blame on the one who might be doing the
\naction. Another reason is the fact that the passive form is the only right one
\nfor that sentence. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLet\u2019s take this sentence: \u201cThe balloon was popped by the demon child.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat if this is a deduction by a caped hero who is tracking this demon
\nchild, super villain? Our super hero taps his finger to his chin. \u201cThe balloon
\nwas popped by the demon child,\u201d he deduces. \u201cBut who gave the demon child the
\nballoon?\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe popping of the balloon had occurred sometime in the past, not
\nimmediate to the scene. This passive form works here as our caped crime fighter
\nrealizes there is someone giving orders to the demon child.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nMyth debunked. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some authors believe all passive sentences are bad. They\u2019ve heard the rule that all forms of to be are to be cut from their manuscripts. Let\u2019s explain and debunk that myth. Passive sentences are those in which the subject of the sentence does not perform the action described in the sentence. Instead, the action is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[85,67,86,70,87,88],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-action-verbs","tag-editing","tag-passive-writing","tag-self-editing","tag-verbs","tag-writing-myths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}