Passive voice in dialogue...

[txblush]

I'm using Grammarly and need help understanding the rule about passive voice.

Here's an example of one sentence as dialog: "Come to the office when you’re done."

I'm thinking the above is okay, but I could be wrong. So, I'm coming to the experts here for all the help I can get.

 

[DouglasFinney]

Your sentence is written in the imperative voice—the speaker is telling the listener to perform an action. It’s not passive whatsoever.

 

[SamScribble]

I'm using Grammarly and need help understanding the rule about passive voice.

Here's an example of one sentence as dialog: "Come to the office when you’re done."

I'm thinking the above is okay, but I could be wrong. So, I'm coming to the experts here for all the help I can get.

If it's dialogue, it's whatever the character would say. Ignore Grammarly

 

[txblush]

If it's dialogue, it's whatever the character would say. Ignore Grammarly

Thanks Sam!

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree generally with Sam's advice, except in this way: dialogue should be a more concise and entertaining version of the way people really talk, not the way people really talk. If you wrote dialogue the way people really talk, you would frustrate and bore them.

Passive voice is when the object and subject of the sentence are reversed.

Active: I read the book.

Passive: The book was read by me.

The tell-tale sign is the use of the "linking verb" "was," or versions of the verb "to be."

But not every use of "to be" is a passive sentence.

"The flower was red." is not passive voice. There is no object. "Red" is a predicate adjective that describes "flower." It's not an object.

This is one of those rules people worry too much about. Don't over-do passive voice, but also don't worry about using it once and a while.

 

[txblush]

I agree generally with Sam's advice, except in this way: dialogue should be a more concise and entertaining version of the way people really talk, not the way people really talk. If you wrote dialogue the way people really talk, you would frustrate and bore them.

Passive voice is when the object and subject of the sentence are reversed.

Active: I read the book.

Passive: The book was read by me.

The tell-tale sign is the use of the "linking verb" "was," or versions of the verb "to be."

But not every use of "to be" is a passive sentence.

"The flower was red." is not passive voice. There is no object. "Red" is a predicate adjective that describes "flower." It's not an object.

This is one of those rules people worry too much about. Don't over-do passive voice, but also don't worry about using it once and a while.

Thanks Simon! I appreciate the examples and will try not to worry...too much.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm using Grammarly and need help understanding the rule about passive voice.

Here's an example of one sentence as dialog: "Come to the office when you’re done."

I'm thinking the above is okay, but I could be wrong. So, I'm coming to the experts here for all the help I can get.

Yeah, this isn't passive but I can see why Grammarly might have made that mistake.

"John is doing the cleaning": active voice.
"The cleaning is done by John: passive voice.
"Make sure the cleaning is done every day": still passive (+ imperative at the beginning).

To a program like Grammarly, "come to the office when you are done" looks like the same kind of passive construction. But "done" is a tricksy word that can be used more than one way, and here it's being used as an adjective, similarly to "when you are ready".