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Bad News: Using Passive Voice
Victoria McCrady
Overview
This video explains how to strategically use passive voice, particularly when delivering bad news or sensitive information. While often discouraged for being less engaging, passive voice can be a powerful tool to de-emphasize the actor and focus on the action or the recipient. This technique helps maintain relationships by making communication less personal and judgmental, shifting the focus from who did something to what happened or what needs to be done. The video provides examples of active versus passive voice and demonstrates how passive constructions can soften negative messages in professional and personal contexts.
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Chapters
- Delivering bad news is unavoidable, but its negative impact can be lessened.
- Passive voice, often criticized for being boring, can be a strategic tool in communication.
- It helps to de-emphasize the actor and focus on the action or the recipient of the action.
Understanding when and how to use passive voice allows for more nuanced and empathetic communication, especially when delivering difficult information, thereby preserving relationships.
Instead of 'We cannot offer you the position,' use 'The position cannot be offered,' which shifts focus from the company ('we') to the decision about the position.
- Active voice clearly identifies the actor (subject) performing the action (verb) on an object.
- Passive voice reorients the sentence, making the object of the action the subject.
- The actor in a passive sentence is often omitted or placed at the end, reducing their prominence.
Recognizing the grammatical structure of active and passive voice is crucial for understanding how they influence the emphasis and tone of a message.
Active: 'She hit me with a car.' Passive: 'I was hit by a car.' The passive version focuses on 'I' and the event, not 'She'.
- Using passive voice can make negative feedback less personal and judgmental.
- Phrases like 'The position is only available to a junior' focus on the criteria, not the candidate's shortcomings.
- This approach allows for maintaining a positive relationship even when delivering a rejection.
By making bad news less personal, you can deliver criticism or rejection without damaging the recipient's self-esteem or the relationship.
Instead of 'Jeff made an error,' use 'An error was made,' which deflects blame from Jeff and allows the team to focus on the solution.
- Dependent clauses (incomplete thoughts) can be paired with passive voice to provide context without assigning responsibility.
- This construction is useful for official statements or when the actor is intentionally obscured.
- It emphasizes that a situation or outcome is a result of circumstances or rules, not individual actions.
Combining dependent clauses with passive voice offers a sophisticated way to explain complex situations or limitations without pinpointing blame.
'While the investigation is ongoing, an arrest cannot be made.' This implies external constraints rather than a specific person's inability to act.
- Overuse of passive voice can lead to vague, boring, and difficult-to-follow writing.
- It is generally less direct and engaging than active voice.
- However, its strategic use is valuable for specific communication goals, such as softening blows or obscuring actors.
Knowing the limitations of passive voice ensures it is used as a targeted tool rather than a default, maintaining clarity and engagement in most communication.
A document filled with sentences like 'It was decided that...' and 'Action will be taken...' becomes tedious and lacks accountability.
Key takeaways
- Passive voice can be a strategic communication tool to soften bad news and maintain relationships.
- It works by shifting focus from the actor to the action or the recipient of the action.
- Understanding the grammatical difference between active and passive voice is key to using them effectively.
- Using passive voice can make rejections or criticisms less personal and judgmental.
- While useful, excessive use of passive voice can make writing vague, boring, and hard to follow.
- Passive voice is particularly effective when the actor is unknown, unimportant, or needs to be de-emphasized.
- Combining passive voice with dependent clauses can explain circumstances without assigning blame.
Key terms
Passive VoiceActive VoiceActorRecipient of ActionSubjectVerbObjectIndependent ClauseDependent Clause
Test your understanding
- How does using passive voice help in delivering bad news more effectively?
- What is the primary structural difference between an active voice sentence and a passive voice sentence?
- Why might a police department choose to use passive voice in a public statement?
- What are the potential drawbacks of relying too heavily on passive voice in writing?
- Describe a situation where using passive voice would be more beneficial than active voice.