[Dr. Sivana]

I know these are standard “rules” for “effective” writing, sometimes the passive voice is best employed.

[cynwoody]

I know these are standard “rules” for “effective” writing, sometimes the passive voice is best employed.

Mistakes were made ... but you are not focus on the subject, the mistaker.

[Responsibility2nd]

I know these are standard “rules” for “effective” writing, sometimes the passive voice is best employed.

Says someone who just wrote in the active voice.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If you use the passive voice the reader has a right to wonder what you are not saying. It may betray that you can’t use the active voice because you don’t know enough about what you’re talking about, or because you don’t want to explicitly say what you do know.

If you are talking to the owner of a car, you might prefer to say “The car’s fender got dented” rather than “I dented your fender.”