学术写作中的主动语态与被动语态

主动（默认）：

施事 + 动词 + 宾语。示例形态：We interviewed 40 nurses.

被动（有意为之）：

承受者 + be + 过去分词（+ by 施事）。示例形态：Participants were randomly assigned to conditions.

独立作者的 APA 论文：

写自己的工作时用 I：I coded the transcripts.

合著的 APA 论文：

指全体作者时用 we：We coded the transcripts.

不要这样写：

The researcher coded the transcripts. / It was found that…

Both the active and the passive voice are permitted in APA Style. However, writers often overuse the passive voice.

Use the active voice as much as possible to create direct, clear, and concise sentences, especially when you are writing about the actions of people.

Use the passive voice when it is more important to focus on the recipient of an action than on who performed the action, such as when describing an experimental setup.

主动：

the children ate the cookies

被动，点名施事：

the cookies were eaten by the children

被动，省略施事——APA 的警告：

the cookies were eaten

did the children eat the cookies, or was it the dog?

form of “to be” + past participle = passive voice

Why was the road crossed by the chicken?

过马路的是鸡，但语法主语是 road。熟悉的主动形式把施事放在前面：why did the chicken cross the road?

Active voice is used for most non-scientific writing. Using active voice for the majority of your sentences makes your meaning clear for readers, and keeps the sentences from becoming too complicated or wordy. Even in scientific writing, too much use of passive voice can cloud the meaning of your sentences.

• 被动语态不是语法错误。它是清晰度上的选择。
• to be 动词并不自动就是被动。"John is a good student" 描述的是状态。
• 第一人称并不自动就是主动。你也可以写出第一人称被动句。
• "Never use the passive" 本身就是迷思。有些句子那样写更清楚。
• 语法检查器只抓住一小部分被动，因为它们并不是在标错误。

UNC 的第一人称被动：

I was hit by the dodgeball.

UNC 的存在状态（不是被动）：

John is a good student

To create direct, clear, and concise sentences, especially when you are writing about the actions of people, use the active voice.

辅导材料中的主动例句：

Health department officials reported data on the spread of the COVID-19 Pirola variant.

同一材料中的课堂对照：

The teacher gave scratch paper to the students before they took their test.

The scratch paper was given to the students by their teacher before they took their test.

APA Style 教学辅导材料（实验设置）：

The soil quality experiment was conducted in three stages—each stage judging the improvement of the soil when infused with a substantial number of unknown organic ingredients.

UNC，强调宾语：

One hundred votes are required to pass the bill.

UNC，倾倒者不明：

Over 120 different contaminants have been dumped into the river.

UNC，读者不需要产科医生：

Baby Sophia was delivered at 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

Use first-person pronouns in APA Style to describe your work as well as your personal reactions.

正确，独立作者：

I explored treatments for social anxiety.

Do not use the third person to refer to yourself.

避免：

The author explored treatments for social anxiety.

应避免的编辑性 we：

We often worry about what other people think of us.

范围明确的 we：

As young adults, we often worry about what other people think of us.

Many writers believe the “no first-person” myth, which is that writers cannot use first-person pronouns such as “I” or “we” in an APA Style paper.

However, APA Style has no such rule against using first-person pronouns and actually encourages their use to avoid ambiguity in attribution!

It represents a continuation of a long-standing APA Style guideline that began with the second edition of the manual, in 1974.

If you did something, say, “I did it”—there’s no reason to hide your own agency by saying “the author [meaning you] did X” or to convolute things by using the passive “X was done [meaning done by you].”

UNC，第一人称澄清是谁在探究：

In studying American popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored.

UNC 改写：

In our study of American popular culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural milieu.

UNC，去掉信念宣告：

I think that Aristotle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way to me.

UNC 改写：

Aristotle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases.

Let the first-person singular be, instead, a tool that you take out when you think it’s needed and that you leave in the toolbox when you think it’s not.

Kandel 主张把它拿出来的情形：你在叙述一项发现、描述自己如何教学、在不声称绝对真理的前提下与另一位学者异议，或你需要 I 才能保持清楚直接。他主张把它留在工具箱里的情形：I 出现得太密以至于刺眼，以及用 "I believe" 或 "it seems to me" 给已经很明显的立场加填料。

Write clear and direct sentences. Using the active voice (‘we performed the experiment...’) typically helps readers better understand concepts and results described in a paper.

We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.

被动的科学句（UNC）：

A number of things are indicated by these results.

不用 we 的主动：

These results indicate a number of things.

被动的临床句（UNC）：

The balloon is positioned in an area of blockage and is inflated.

点名临床医生：

The surgeon positions the balloon in an area of blockage and inflates it.

施事缺失（UNC）：

Heart disease is considered the leading cause of death in the United States.

点名研究者：

Researchers have concluded that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.

懒惰的被动（UNC）：

The working class was marginalized. African Americans were discriminated against. Women were not treated as equals.

UNC 人类学论文，施事缺失：

A new system of drug control laws was set up.

点名机构：

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party set up a new system of drug control laws.

藏起小说家的情节概述：

Tom and Huck are portrayed as…

点名施事：

Twain portrays Tom and Huck as…

点名批评家：

Anderson argues that…

UNC 的 Odyssey 例子，施事缺失：

When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.

UNC 改写：

After suitors invaded Penelope’s house, she had to think of ways to fend them off.

UNC / Orwell 的靶子：

Mistakes were made.

UNC 的 Exxon 句：

The Exxon Company accepts that a few gallons might have been spilled.

CMOS 问答，Usage and Grammar #198（第 18 版横幅）：

Although it’s good to avoid excessive use of the passive voice, and it’s especially important to avoid using it to hide who has done something (“Lies were told”), the best writing usually involves regular use of the passive, and it would be a mistake to root it out as a policy.

CMOS 问答，Usage and Grammar #185（第 18 版横幅）：

The idea that the passive must be avoided is a superstition that language professionals long ago abandoned, although the prohibition remains popular.

CMOS 问答 #185 论混合语态：

in good writing a mix of active and passive is essential for variation and eloquence, as you will find in any classic of English literature. (Strunk and White use the passive throughout The Elements of Style after famously recommending against it.)

APA 辅导材料，被动 → 主动：

The scratch paper was given to the students by their teacher… → The teacher gave scratch paper to the students…

APA Style，被动 → 提问：

the cookies were eaten → Who ate them? If you know, write the children ate the cookies.

UNC，不用 we 的主动科学句：

A number of things are indicated by these results. → These results indicate a number of things.

Nature 的形态：

The experiment was performed… → we performed the experiment...

悬垂修饰语（CMOS 18 §5.119 标出这一模式）：

模板，不是出处：Using qualitative methods, the study was conducted. → Using qualitative methods, we conducted the study.

1. 找出 be + 过去分词。两者都在，只是候选，不是自动改写。
2. 有没有行为？若动词只是命名状态（"the argument is sound"），停下。那不是被动。
3. 谁或什么执行该行为？他们在主语位置、在句末 by 之后，还是缺失？
4. 公允的读者会问 谁 吗？若会，而你知道，就写主动句。
5. 你是否在藏一项决定、一个错误或一个政治施事？若是，改写。"Mistakes were made" 就是试金石。
6. 你是否在概述一位批评家或小说家？把姓氏放在动词前面。
7. 课程大纲或期刊是否要求被动 Methods？服从那条本地规则；不要把它输出到讨论。
8. 在你独自撰写的 APA 论文里，你是否写了 we 或 "the researcher"？把那些改成 I。
9. 语法检查器是否标出了每一个 is？忽略那些不是 be + 分词的。