I No Longer Fear Passive Voice

I cannot count the number of times I have read not to use passive voice in writing. Or how often I have searched for ways to spot it in my own writing. While editing this summer I found myself constantly battling with it. So, of course I went searching for a better way to find it. Up until now my method has been simple. 

I have a list of words to search for as I edit: am, are, been, being, decided, felt, had, has, have, heard, is, knew, looked, noticed, realized, saw, thought, was, watched, were, wondered. 

Yet, no matter how hard I try to fix those pesky sentences they still sneak past me. When I get back critiques inevitably I will find "passive voice" marked somewhere on the document.

Courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you are like me you need a back up plan. Luckily, I learned a trick this summer and I'm going to share it with you because I believe in sharing the wealth of knowledge. Unfortunately I only know a trick for MS Word, since I do not own a Mac.

1. With your manuscript, or chapter, open in MS Word open your spelling and grammar check.
2. When the spelling and grammar check window opens click on the options button.
3. A new window will appear. One that will allow you to change your preferences. 
4. In this new window locate the settings button and click it. Yet another window will pop up, but this is the one which works the magic. 
5. Scroll down to the heading Style. There you will find a myriad of choices to choose from. One of those choices is passive sentences. Click it! (I added several others as well.)
6. Click Okay and the window closes, leaving the Options window open. 
7. Click Okay again to get back to the spelling and grammar check window. 
8. Start searching your document for passive voice! 

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me to fight the evil of passive voice.

If you know how to do this for Mac, please add it in the comments.

~ Heather