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	The passive-voice verb presents an entirely different kind of weakness from either the being verb or the general-action verb. With those weakeners, the meaning of the verb is too indistinct for the sentence to be forceful. Passive-voice verbs frequently have verbs of powerful action within them. The issue with the passive-voice verb is merely one of the order of ideas: in what order does the sentence go? Consider this example: The book was read slowly by all in the class. The verb is was read, a concrete action. So here we are dealing not with an actionless verb, but instead with a issue of word order. The passive-voice verb goes in the order of What (the book) was done (was read) by whom (by all in the class). Even just stating that shows how cumbersome the passive-voice verb can be. The active-voice verb goes in the order of Who (all in the class) did what (read) to what (the book). All in the class read the book slowly. If all other things were equal, the second way, the active-voice way, the way beginning with the doer of the action, would make for a more natural, a more swift, a more confident style. Yet, since all things hardly ever are equal, you'll find plenty of times when passive-voice verbs seem preferable. For instance, you should prefer the passive under these conditions: if the doer of the action is unclear if the doer of the action is unstatable if stating the doer of action would cause political trouble if the doer of the action is so unimportant that stating it would be silly if the sentence in active form would have to move from complexity to simplicity if you need variation from writing so many active-voice verbs Though all of these exceptions are useful to know, you should aim to have more than two-thirds of your sentences contain concrete, active-voice verbs. For many, finding the passives or actives can cause trouble. The best way I have found is to train people to say, over and over, ad nauseum, "Who (or what) does what?" If their sentence answers that question in that order, it is an active-voice sentence. Another way is to know that the active, the strong form, goes in this order: DOER---> ACTION---> OBJECT OF ACTION (if stated) That's the order you're looking for!
	Courtesy of John Mercer Associates, www.MercerWriting.com ==>Guidelines ==>Verbs ==>Passive