You may have seen Demand Studios toss around the phrase “passive writing” a lot. It’s not something they made up either–it’s a real (and common) problem new writers make in an attempt to lengthen or fluff up their article.

Unfortunately, passive writing is hard on the eyes, especially for the Internet readers you want to attract. It also makes it more difficult to understand the article’s purpose because of the needless extra verbs–a sign of amateur writing.

But what the heck is passive writing?

Demand Studios and Passive Writing: Definition

You probably remember your English teacher instructing you to show instead of tell. Telling a story weakens it and kills a person’s concentration; showing a story through adjectives, descriptions and actions draws a person in, willing them to read on.

Passive writing is simply that: telling instead of showing. When Demand Studios sends you a rewrite because your writing is too passive, they’re really saying “You’re telling too much. Show readers how to do it instead.”

Identifying the Markers of Passive Writing

Now that we know what passive writing is, let’s find out how to identify it.

Commonly used words/phrases: to be, could be, should not be, had, that, was, which was, had, or the dreaded has had.

Other identifies: The verbs are almost always in the past tense (example: broke, slid, ate), paired with be, had or was.

Let’s put this in a sentence.

Example 1#: “All of the apples should be placed near the oranges.”

The passive phrase here is “should be”. To eliminate it, state the action in present tense.

Example 1# (fixed): “Place the apples near the oranges.”

Compare both sentences. The second example is very clear and easy to follow. The first example? Not as much.

Let’s look at another example.

Demand Studios and Passive Writing: Part 2>>>