Writers in the Storm

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February 5, 2025

Using “was” is passive writing, or is it?

Signs to demonstrage active vs passive voice in writing

by Dr. Diana Stout

How many times have you heard, “You shouldn’t use was.*** It’s passive writing?" Far too often, I find editing software or autocorrect will say “passive writing” when it’s not true. That’s why it’s important to understand what passive writing looks like.

Notes for this Post on Passive Writing

Our goal is to identify what was is and the type of verb that generally accompanies was will better aid our understanding of how to identify passive writing so that we can fix it. I promise that by the end of this blog post, you will be able to identify passive writing with two simple questions.

Helping verbs, also called auxiliary verbs, usually accompany participle verbs, which most often end with -ing or -ed. The middle column lists the various helping verbs.

*** Important: Words or phrases being analyzed or discussed are always italicized. Quote marks are reserved for dialogue or actual quotes that require(s) mentioning the source or providing a citation.

The TYPE of helping verbThe helping verbsExtra information
BEam, is, are, was, were, be, been 
HAVEhave, has, had 
DODo, does, diddone is a helping verb in British English but not in American English where it’s the past participle of do.
CONDITIONALShould, could, would 
FUTURE TENSEwill, shall 
ABILITY, PERMISSION, POSSIBILITY, NECESSITYcan, may, might, mustThe order of types matches the order of helping verbs. Ability = Can, Permission = May and so forth.

Helping Verbs Made Easier

Now, let’s look at a timeline of official verb terminology and how each is used with these helping verbs, starting with the past way in the distance, moving toward the present, and then into the future, and beyond.

Using the word hike

Perfect Progressive PastPerfect PastProgressive PastSimple Past
I had been hikingI had hikedI was hikingI hiked; I did hike

Present

  • I hike
  • I am hiking
  • I do hike
  • He is hiking
Simple FutureFuture ProgressiveFuture PerfectFuture Perfect Progressive
I will hike; he should hikeI will be hiking; he should be hikingI will have hikedI will have been hiking

Are you noticing how the participle -ing and -ed verbs are required when there is a helping verb? Are any of these phrases in the chart passive? No, they’re not. They’re all active. How so?

A closer examination

Let’s examine the use of was more closely with various subjects. The verb forms are italicized.

  • He was walking to the bank.
  • She is talking on the telephone.
  • The ball was kicked.

So, are any of these sentences passive writing? Yes, one sentence is passive and it’s the last one. The first two sentences are active writing.

I can hear you thinking or saying, “But, I’ve been told using was is passive writing. I’m confused. How can I tell when was is passive or active in my sentence?”

Often, helping verbs creates wordiness. In some cases, helping verbs create telling rather than showing. Wordiness and telling do not equal passive writing. Passive writing occurs for one reason and one reason only and here’s how to find out whether your sentence is passive or not.

How to Identify Passive Writing

#1 - Identify the subject

Using the three example sentences again, I’m underlining the subjects.

  • He was walking to the bank.
  • She is talking on the phone.
  • The ball was kicked.

#2 - Ask: is the subject performing the action?

In the first two examples, yes, the subject is doing the acting. In the third sentence, the ball is not doing the kicking.

If a subject performs the action, it’s active writing regardless of the verb form being used.

If the subject is being acted upon, the sentence is passive. The additional problem with the last sentence is that it’s unclear; it needs more information to be made clear.

            Question: The ball was kicked by whom?

            Answer: The ball was kicked by the little boy.

Meaning is clearer. But, notice how we now have the preposition by. Prepositions can lead to wordiness, too. Plus, the sentence is still passive.

So how do you make a passive sentence active?

Switch things around. Move the subject so that it performs the action. Notice how the preposition disappears, too.

            The little boy was kicking the ball.

But, it’s still a bit wordy and slow-moving. The sentence isn’t as active as it could be. To make sentences less wordy, remove the helping verbs and use simple present or simple past tense.

  • He walked to the bank. (simple past)
  • She talks on the telephone. (present)
  • The little boy kicked the ball. (simple past)

Reminder: To determine if your sentence is passive:

  1. Identify the subject.
  2. Ask: is the subject doing the action or is it being acted upon?

If the subject is being acted upon (passive writing), rewrite or rearrange until the subject is performing the action (active writing).

To remove verb wordiness, use simple verbs without the helping verbs.

Test Yourself

Think you understand the difference between passive and active writing now? Let’s check. Is the following sentence passive or active?

The boys in the choir who were marching in the parade were soaked by the rain.

What’s the subject? Boys

What’s the verb: were marching and were soaked

Are the boys performing the action? Yes and No. To figure it out, simplify the sentence using only subjects and verbs

The boys were marching so that first portion is active. The boys are doing something.

The boys were soaked. The boys aren’t doing anything. This sentence is a statement of fact, so that means something else is acting upon the boys. The boys were soaked by the rain. The rain is acting upon the boys.

So, the above sentence is both active and passive. Is that okay? Certainly.

Final Thought

Not all writing has to be active. The beauty is that I can change it, restructure the sentence if I don’t want part of it to be passive.

There will be times when you want your subject acted upon, when they have no control, are threatened, or are being abused by someone or something. Via passive writing, you are showing how the character has no control.

Do you have a sentence you’re not sure how to rewrite and want to share? Or, have you found a passive sentence in your work that you’ve rewritten and it’s now active? Share it! Show us how you changed it.

* * * * * *

About Diana

Diana Stout, MFA, PhD

Dr. Diana Stout enjoys helping other writers become better at their craft. Her main goals for 2025 are to publish her grammar and punctuation book, publish her psychological paranormal thriller, and write her fully researched based-on-a-true-story historical screenplay. To subscribe to her announcement-only newsletter of these publications, click here.

To learn more about Diana, visit her Sharpened Pencils Productions website and check out her Recommended Reading page where she provides links to helpful books and articles for all writers.

Top photo purchased from Depositphotos.

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31 comments on “Using “was” is passive writing, or is it?”

  1. Like Kristie Wolf, I'm going to print this for reference. Thank you, Diana, for explaining a topic I've struggled to understand!

    1. Karen, you are most welcome! Thank you for letting me know you're printing the post for future reference. Hopefully, you'll struggle less in the future. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  2. Genius! Simply genius. I am sending links to this blog post to so many people. Thank you, Dr. Stout!

    Here's a passive sentence, that I may keep passive, but could indeed change. What do you think?

    original--> Her arms were crossed, and her expression reflected dimly in the glass—unreadable.

    non-passive version --> In the dim reflection of the glass, she crossed her arms--familiar--but I couldn't read her expression.

    1. Thank you (!!!) so much for sharing.

      Her "arms were crossed" isn't passive. It's perfectly okay as is. Why? Because "were" is serving as a linking verb, creating a statement of fact. The subject "arms" isn't doing the action, but neither is it being acted upon.

      Possible revision for clearer meaning: I watched her cross her arms in the dim reflection of the glass, but I couldn't read her expression.

      Linking verbs simply link the subject to something else, making a statement of fact:
      She is mad. Mad is she.
      Lincoln is the President. The President is Lincoln.
      The ball is dirty. The boys are dirty, too.
      Not a bit of action is going on, so these verbs are linking.
      Make sense?

        1. Probably the same place as me! Another clue to realizing a verb is a linking verb is that there is not a second verb of action accompanying the so-called helping verb. They helping verbs because they're actually helping (assisting) the action verb. Alone they're linking verbs.

          I never knew the why of grammar and punctuation until I began teaching it.

  3. Any chance you could travel back in time and be my English teacher in elementary/junior high school? You would have made learning (or not learning, in my case) the intricacies of grammar so much easier. This is such a useful post, Diana—thanks!

    1. Okay. 🙂

      My students often told me that their English teachers never "showed" them. They were told, given examples but never understood the WHY behind the usage.

      I've always believed if I could understand the why, the learning and remembering of that learning stayed with me.

      My teachers hated all of my questions. LOL

      Thanks for visiting and commenting.

  4. Finally, someone has simplified this topic! And I'm benefiting to have read it! Love this. Sharing with my writing groups.

    1. Thanks, Katie. 🙂 Thank you for sharing it, too. I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for commenting and visiting.

  5. Thank you, Dr. Diana Stout.
    I have never grasped the difference between passive and active writing until now. Your straightforward explanation and example help me understand.
    Thank you again.

  6. Oooh. You caught me with that last sentence. Up until then, I did well. lol. Thanks for this, it's a great reminder. A helpful tool.

    1. I know! Funny thing is, I never learned it well either until I began teaching it. Thanks for visiting and commenting.

  7. I'm with Denise...I know I learned it, but I can't remember any of it!

    I dearly love the way you broke it down, Diana.

    1. Thanks, Jenny. I found my college students liked being SHOWN rather than being TOLD. Plus, I find I remember various rules better when set up visually. Thanks for commenting.

  8. Thank you for this. I get so irritated when someone tells me "He was hiking" is passive voice. It might not be good writing, but it isn't passive. You've clarified active v. passive very well.

    1. Thank you, Theresa. I, too, get irritated when I hear someone say that using "was" is passive writing. Even some of the grammar checkers say it, which is why no writer should accept these checkers as 100% percent correct.

      I appreciate your comments! Happy writing.

  9. I love how you spelled all of this out. Our grammar checking tools often don't see the nuances here, and this is a great example of how the writer using the writer's understanding of the nuances of the language will out perform basic tools. Thank you for this!

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