William Strunk Jr. - The Elements of Style - Rule 14 lyrics

Rule 14. Use the active voice. The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the pa**ive: I shall always remember my first visit to Boston. This is much better than My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me. The latter sentence is less direct, less bold, and less concise. If the writer tries to make it more concise by omitting "by me," My first visit to Boston will always be remembered, it becomes indefinite: is it the writer, or some person undisclosed, or the world at large, that will always remember this visit? This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the pa**ive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary. The dramatists of the Restoration are little esteemed to-day. Modern readers have little esteem for the dramatists of the Restoration. The first would be the right form in a paragraph on the dramatists of the Restoration; the second, in a paragraph on the tastes of modern readers. The need of making a particular word the subject of the sentence will often, as in these examples, determine which voice is to be used. The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible writing. This is true not only in narrative principally concerned with action, but in writing of any kind. Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is, or could be heard. There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground. Dead leaves covered the ground. The sound of the falls could still be heard. The sound of the falls still reached our ears. The reason that he left college was that his health became impaired. Failing health compelled him to leave college. It was not long before he was very sorry that he had said what he had. He soon repented his words. Note, in the examples above, that when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by product of vigor.