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- Active or passive
- Use the passive voice to focus on the action
- Favour the passive voice in the Methods and Results sections
- Use the verb form to organize the sentence content
- Use verb forms that keep characters in subject position
- Use verb forms that facilitate movement from old information to new
- Use the active with the pronouns I or we
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In many cases readers do not need to know who or what did the action because the focus is on the object of the action or the action itself. The important thing is not that someone did something but that something was done.
In this example, the focus is on a particular polymer and its properties. For the purposes of the text, the person who reported the properties is of no importance.
 | The ferroelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride were first reported in 1971. These properties were exploited to take giant strides in the field of data storage and retrieval. |
In this example, the focus is on a particular polymer and its properties. For the purposes of the text, the person who reported the properties is of no importance.
Recommended citation:
«Use the passive voice to focus on the action» [en línia]. A: Llibre d’estil de la Universitat de Barcelona. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona. Serveis Lingüístics. <https://www.ub.edu/llibre-estil/criteri.php?id=3450> [consulta: 19 abril 2024].