We avoid the passive voice for two reasons:

1. They are longer than sentences in active voice.

ACTIVE VOICE: The surgeon operated upon the patient.               (6 words)

PASSIVE VOICE: The patient was operated upon by the surgeon. (8 words)

2. Sometimes, knowing the actor is very important.

a. Research has been done to prove that Hodge conjecture is a fallacy.

(Who did it? How can the research be challenged if I don’t know the researcher?)

b. Rama and Uma were working on the thesis independently. The thesis was completed.

(Who completed it? Who should get the recognition?)