Like most people in the Mid-Atlantic, I found that more than two feet of snow blanketed my house and cars yesterday.  The Mayor and Governor declared emergencies for the city and state respectively; all cars were ordered to remain off the road.  By last night, the storm had passed.

The following morning, I took the dogs outside and was struck by the silence.  No cars passing by.  No flights that would normally land in or fly out of BWI airport, only the crunch beneath my dogs’ paws.  It a moment like this that as a writer one appreciates the sound of silence.

First, being in a relatively quiet environment helps us to hear the sounds that might normally be drowned out by the cacophony of everyday life – to observe.  Second, this silence helps us to organize our thoughts – think.  Third, the shutdown of the roads and businesses gives us the time to do our business – write.

Observe.  Think.  Write.  We don’t always have time to do all three, but take advantage of days like this.  So take some time for yourself early in the morning or late at night and let your best writing happen during the stillness.

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Claude Berube is the President of American Independent Writers and teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy. The co-author of two books, he’s published over thirty articles in academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.

The use of active voice might be the least understood element in English that most people think they understand. They understand even less when they get the use of active voice confused with the use of action verbs. And many do. Many editors can’t keep them straight.

Fact is, they aren’t even related. They just sound as if they are. A sentence written in active voice can include a “being” verb.

Assam is an Indian state.

And a sentence written in passive voice can include an action verb.

Nicholas O’Herlihy was named after his maternal grandfather, a Russian.

Active voice and action verbs do have one thing in common. They contribute to strong, honest, direct writing.

If the subject of a sentence creates the action, the sentence is in active voice. Active voice is the exact opposite of the sentence-wrecker known as passive voice. Here’s an example of passive voice:

The truck was struck by the train.

The truck is the subject of the sentence. The train is the receiver of the action. That means the sentence is in passive voice. Here’s the same sentence in active voice:

The train struck the truck.

Now the subject has switched roles. No longer is it receiving the action. The train has become the subject, and it is creating the action. That’s active voice.

By switching to active voice we have eliminated a verb, was, and a preposition, by. Together they had made the sentence longer, 40 percent longer. This is not an unusual result of passive voice, and it is one reason good writers avoid passive voice when they can. But at least two other reasons exist for using active voice.

Take a convoluted sentence that seems to start off in several directions and ends up going nowhere. Now, take a close look at it. Chances are, the writer began writing the sentence in passive voice. Few other forms of sloppy writing produce such muddiness.

Another reason to use active voice is that it is more honest. It takes responsibility. Passive voice provides a way to avoid responsibility. At least three recent U.S. presidents—Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton and George W. Bush—have used the identical phrase in passive voice in an attempt to deflect criticism and embarrassment and to avoid responsibility:

Mistakes were made.

To the reader, that that means is, “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t do it. Some [unnamed] official in my administration did it.”

In When Words Collide, Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald offer two situations in which passive voice must be used. First, passive voice is justified if the receiver of the action is more important than the creator of the action. They use this example:

A priceless Rembrandt painting was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday by three men posing as janitors.

Here, the Rembrandt should remain the subject of the sentence even though it receives the action. The painting obviously is more important—more newsworthy—than the three men who stole it.

The second reason for using passive voice is if the writer has no choice. That’s when the writer does not know who or what the actor, the creator of the action, is. The example Kessler and McDonald use:

The cargo was damaged during the trans-Atlantic flight.

Air turbulence? Sabotage? Was the cargo strapped in properly? The writer doesn’t know, so the voice must be passive.

Active voice is direct, active voice is honest, active voice is economical. But mostly, active voice is considerate of readers, of their limited amount of time and of their need for clear, crisp, concise information. Passive voice is one reason many people swear off how-to books on computing, carpentry or cooking.

First, a pair of chopsticks is placed on top of a pot of water. Then, the asparagus is put inside a wicker basket and the basket is placed on top of the chopsticks. The water is brought to a boil, and the asparagus is steamed for no more than 10 minutes, so a slight crunchiness is retained.

It seems to take so long to get it out. But when you turn these instructions into commands, using active voice, they become much more crisp and clear. The writer addresses the reader directly, with “you” implied.

Place a pair of chopsticks on top of a pot of water. Put the asparagus inside a wicker basket and place the basket on top of the chopsticks. Bring the water to a boil and steam the asparagus for no more than 10 minutes, so it retains a slight crunchiness.

Next: Action Verbs and Imagery

This blog post is excerpted from Knight’s soon-to-be-published Journalistic Writing: Building the Skill; Honing the Craft

Have you taken a class recently?  Will you in the near future?  If you’re a writer, then take advantage of what a classroom experience presents.

This is true whether you’re taking a humanities course (English, History, Political Science, etc) or a science course.  In addition to earning a grade or credit hours, make the course work for you as a writer.  Being in a classroom environment offers three important commodities to a writer.

The first commodity is time. How many times have you tried to write another article, especially under the gun, only to find yourself lamenting, “If only I had more time!”  Do you find yourself getting up earlier in the day or staying up later scrapping together a few more minutes here and there?  If you’re in a class, you have automatically found the time to write.  In fact, if it’s a humanities course, you’re required to write a paper.  You will, therefore, automatically be required to set aside time to meet the class deadline.

The second commodity is inspiration. In a learning environment, particularly in a graduate course, you’ll be exposed to new concepts.  With the instructor and from other students you’ll have the opportunity to flesh out your concepts; this is especially true in a seminar where the readings precipitate classroom discussions – and I’ve found that the most animated discussions produce the best ideas.

The third commodity is research. Throughout the semester or the year, you’ll have the resources whether it’s an academic library or interaction with guest professors, or even other students in a graduate course who represent a variety of professions from whom to learn.

Although you can’t use a paper from one course for another, you can try to publish the paper.  There are a few options.  The first is the academic route.   A paper I wrote about private security companies in a Naval War College course was accepted by a peer-reviewed academic journal which then asked me take my 3,000 word article to 7,000 words.  In a different course through the Naval War College, a paper I wrote on U.S. involvement with Ho Chi Minh in 1945 became the basis for an article in a popularly read magazine – and it paid!

While not every paper can be turned into a journal, magazine, or newspaper article, the next time you take a class, instead of dreading a writing assignment, use that opportunity to build your body of published work.

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Claude Berube is the President of American Independent Writers and teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy. The co-author of two books, he’s published over thirty articles in academic journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.