![]() Active impersonal: ”the chapter describes”, ”the discussion argues”, ”the experiment shows”.Increasing use of active impersonal in technical writing Some people argue that ”one” is more formal than ”we” but avoid it unless you want to sound like a member of the English royal family. A number of style guides react against it arguing that it is rather pompous and over complicating the issue (see the Eloquent Science blog ) but it can be a useful way to avoid repeating ”we”.Ĥ. This is often considered to be a more formal way of writing ”we”. This works well if we want to make it clear who carried out the action.ģ. This works well if we want to focus on the DNA and we are clear (or maybe it is unimportant) who did the extracting.Ģ. Active: ”One extracted DNA from tissue and feather samples”ġ. Active: ”The authors extracted DNA from tissue and feather samples”Ĥ. Active: ”We extracted DNA from tissue and feather samples”ģ. Passive: ”DNA was extracted from tissue and feather samples”Ģ. Given a choice between quantitative and qualitative interviews, we chose the latter since …ġ.Being qualitative interviewers, we followed certain themes.Additionally, we conducted interviews ….However, it is good practice to avoid starting the sentence with ”we” and instead start with an introductory adverb, infinitive phrase, or dependent clause which gives it a less heavy emphasis and links the information to previous information e.g. For example, the introduction section can often contain more active forms and the method section more passive forms, but check articles in your own discipline for this. Certain sections of the report / thesis work better with active / passive than others.In the active example above where, as already stated, the actors are clear, the ”we” sounds repetitive and informal. In the above examples, some would argue that the 2nd example is more objective and detached which can be what is expected from scientific writing.īe careful of expressions like ”it is thought” ”it is found” – make it clear who thinks and who finds especially in the discussion section of your paper. Passive: ” the health hazards have been compared” (unclear actor, we don’t know who did this)Īctive ” the environmental authority have compared the health hazards” the researchers in this case, so it’s more helpful to focus on the interviews) Qualitative interviews were chosen using certain interview themes” (here the actors are obvious i.e. ![]() Passive: ” The interviews were structured to aid in the fulfilment of Objective (2). focus on the object which can often be more interesting in technical textsĪctive: ” We structured the interviews to aid in the fulfilment of Objective (2).Passive: ” the health hazards have been compared by the environmental authority”Īctive ” the environmental authority have compared the health hazards” (fewer words) See the table below for advantages of the active vs passive (the text in blue is the recommended version). There are different attitudes to this as well within disciplines and amongst supervisors so it is good to check the conventions of your field. The answer is yes, it IS possible to use the active voice in technical writing and many successful technical writers do so, but be aware of the stylistic choice you are making. ”the experiment was done” (see Engonline for advice on formulating the passive). ”we did the experiment” instead of the passive voice i.e. your opinion / hypothesis / idea.Ī commonly asked question from students is whether it is possible to use the active voice in technical writing i.e. Use active when you want to make it clear who the actor is or when it is more personal e.g.Use passive when you want to emphasise the object and the actor is already clear and / or unimportant.Make sure your sentence is clear, concise and precise.Consider what the focus of your sentence is i.e.Both active and passive forms are possible and acceptable in technical writing.
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