Diplomatic Tone for Better Business Communication. Tip #2 Passive Voice
English has two voices:
sentences can either be active or passive. A sentence is active if the subject
performs the action specified by the verb.
Active voice: The project manager (subject)
signed off those reports yesterday.- Руководитель проекта подписал те отчеты вчера.
A sentence is passive if
the subject has the action performed on it.
Passive voice: The reports (subject) were signed off yesterday by the project
manager.- Отчеты были подписаны вчера руководителем
проекта.
In the passive voice, you
may leave out the subject if you think it is not necessary to emphasize (point
out) who performed the action. For this reason, the passive voice is often used
to soften the tone.
When you use the active voice, it can sometimes sound like you are
blaming someone for something, or giving them responsibility for something. The
passive voice, especially when the subject is removed from the sentence,
focuses more on the situation and less on the person responsible for the
situation.
Passive voice: The reports were signed off on yesterday.- Отчеты были
подписаны вчера.
