Is using passive voice "bad form"?

Question

Whenever I create a document in Microsoft Word, it complains about a lot of my sentences being in passive voice. But, when I read that sentence aloud, it sounds fine to me. I am not sure if it is just me and will a statement in passive voice sound strange to a native speaker?So, my question is, is it considered bad form to use passive voice generally? Or in some specific cases like written communications only?

Answer 1

I agree with Lauren H.

Passive voice often results in the writer including less information. For example "The king was killed" is passive voice, while "Parliament killed the king", is active voice and gives much more information and, as a result, is much more authoritative. Passive voice often gives the impression that the writer is not knowledgeable enough to provide all the information.

One way to know if you are using passive voice is to add "by zombies" to the end of the sentence. If the sentence still makes sense - it is passive voice.

Answer 2

When writing, for example, a lab report, passive voice is standard. When writing an essay, active voice is preferred. This is a matter of style.

The metal was ignited using a Bunsen burner. Lab report

We ignited the metal using the Bunsen burner. Part of a story.