Passive Voice: It's Not What You've Been Told

A few weeks ago, one of the copy editors in my social media feed stumbled across a blog post by a writing coach offering tips and insights about passive voice and when and how to avoid it.

Here are the examples the writing expert offered. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” “The noise was terrifying.” The verb structure “was walking.” Sentences beginning with “it was” or “there were.” And “she made her way.”

My online editor friends had a field day. You see, none of those examples is passive. Here's my recent column explaining where the blogger went wrong.

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