Passive Voice Detection

This rule helps identify instances of passive voice in text. Passive voice occurs when the subject of a sentence receives the action rather than performs it. While passive voice isn't always wrong, excessive use can make writing less direct, less engaging, and harder to understand. Active voice generally creates clearer, more dynamic prose that's easier for readers to follow.

The rule works by looking for two key components of passive voice:

  1. A form of the verb "to be" (am, are, were, being, is, been, was, be)
  2. Followed by a past participle (either a verb ending in "-ed" or one from an extensive list of irregular past participles)

Examples

Would flag:

  • "The ball was thrown" (passive)
  • "The document is being written" (passive)
  • "Mistakes were made" (passive)

Would not flag:

  • "John threw the ball" (active)
  • "Sarah writes the document" (active)
  • "We made mistakes" (active)

In the flagged examples, the subject is receiving the action rather than performing it, making them classic examples of passive voice construction that this rule will detect.

Rule Source

This rule comes from: https://github.com/mesosphere/dcos-docs-site

Rule Definition

extends: existence
message: "'%s' looks like passive voice."
ignorecase: true
level: suggestion
raw:
  - \b(am|are|were|being|is|been|was|be)\b\s*
tokens:
  - '[\w]+ed'
  - awoken
  - beat
  - become
  - been
  - begun
  - bent
  - beset
  - bet
  - bid
  - bidden
  - bitten
  - bled
  - blown
  - born
  - bought
  - bound
  - bred
  - broadcast
  - broken
  - brought
  - built
  - burnt
  - burst
  - cast
  - caught
  - chosen
  - clung
  - come
  - cost
  - crept
  - cut
  - dealt
  - dived
  - done
  - drawn
  - dreamt
  - driven
  - drunk
  - dug
  - eaten
  - fallen
  - fed
  - felt
  - fit
  - fled
  - flown
  - flung
  - forbidden
  - foregone
  - forgiven
  - forgotten
  - forsaken
  - fought
  - found
  - frozen
  - given
  - gone
  - gotten
  - ground
  - grown
  - heard
  - held
  - hidden
  - hit
  - hung
  - hurt
  - kept
  - knelt
  - knit
  - known
  - laid
  - lain
  - leapt
  - learnt
  - led
  - left
  - lent
  - let
  - lighted
  - lost
  - made
  - meant
  - met
  - misspelt
  - mistaken
  - mown
  - overcome
  - overdone
  - overtaken
  - overthrown
  - paid
  - pled
  - proven
  - put
  - quit
  - read
  - rid
  - ridden
  - risen
  - run
  - rung
  - said
  - sat
  - sawn
  - seen
  - sent
  - set
  - sewn
  - shaken
  - shaven
  - shed
  - shod
  - shone
  - shorn
  - shot
  - shown
  - shrunk
  - shut
  - slain
  - slept
  - slid
  - slit
  - slung
  - smitten
  - sold
  - sought
  - sown
  - sped
  - spent
  - spilt
  - spit
  - split
  - spoken
  - spread
  - sprung
  - spun
  - stolen
  - stood
  - stridden
  - striven
  - struck
  - strung
  - stuck
  - stung
  - stunk
  - sung
  - sunk
  - swept
  - swollen
  - sworn
  - swum
  - swung
  - taken
  - taught
  - thought
  - thrived
  - thrown
  - thrust
  - told
  - torn
  - trodden
  - understood
  - upheld
  - upset
  - wed
  - wept
  - withheld
  - withstood
  - woken
  - won
  - worn
  - wound
  - woven
  - written
  - wrung