Arguments

Using passive voice to organise important points

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Using passive voice in Two wheel solution

The following text is a letter to the editor of a weekly community magazine in England. The writer is arguing that traffic congestion on English roads could be reduced if more people rode motorcycles instead of driving cars.

The words in bold highlight the subject of the verb; dark red bold is used to highlight verbs in passive voice, and dark red to highlight the agent .

Thousands of acres of our countryside are buried forever under ribbons of concrete and tarmac every year. Every few months a government study or statement from an authoritative body claims that our motorway network is inadequate and must be extended. Week by week the amount of car traffic on our roads grows, 13 per cent in the last year alone. Each day as I walk to work, I see the ludicrous spectacle of hundreds of commuters sitting alone in four or five-seater cars and barely moving as fast as I can walk.

Our traffic crisis now presents us with the classic conservation dilemma - too many people making too much demand on inadequate resources.

There are four possible solutions: one, provide more resources, in this case build more roads and car parks; two, restrict the availability of motorised transport by artificially raising the price of vehicles and fuel; three, license only those with a good reason for needing motorised transport and prohibit unnecessary use; four, reduce the average size of motor vehicles motor vehicles, especially those those [which are] used for commuting purposes.

The ideal vehicle for transporting one person to and from his or her place of work has been in use for as long as the motor car. There is room on our existing roads for present and future needs but not if they are to be clogged up with half-empty cars when the motorcycle would serve the same purpose more than adequately.

Inevitably, objections will be raised to the promotion of the motorcycle as the saviour of our environment. It is dangerous. It can be, but three-fifths of all serious motorcycling accidents are caused by cars. So, by transferring some drivers from cars to motorcycles, the risk can immediately be reduced. Department of Transport statistics have shown that a car driver is nine times more likely to take someone else with him in an accident than a motorcyclist, so riding a motorcycle is actually making a contribution to road safety. Our climate is too cold and wet. Have we British really become so soft that we couldn't face a ride on a chilly morning? A good waterproof jacket costs a lot less than a new bypass. But I must drive a BMW or Jaguar or I'll have no credibility with my clients, my boss, my shareholders. That is just a matter of fashion which most of the business community follow as slavishly as sheep.

If the right person were to set the lead and exchange his tin box traffic jammer for an environmentally responsible set of two wheels the rest of the business sheep would be falling over themselves to follow suit and some of our traffic problems would be solved at a stroke. All that is needed is the willingness to sacrifice a little bit of comfort, take a little bit of a risk and dare to be a little different.

On the other hand, what is a few thousand acres of countryside each year and a ten-mile tailback?

(Letter to the editor in Cambridge Weekly News 22/9/91)

Introduction
Using passive voice in Two wheel solution
Using passive voice in Caning is not the answer