Make Microsoft Find Passives

Does your Microsoft Office grammar and spelling checker ever flag passive verbs in your writing? If not, do not assume your writing is free of passive verbs. Instead, assume that you do not have your grammar and spelling checker set to flag them.

To test your setup, type the sentence "The work should be done" in Microsoft Word or Outlook. If your grammar and spelling checker doesn't identify "should be done" as a passive verb phrase, you have to change your options.

To change your options, click the Tools menu, then Options. Then click the Spelling and Grammar tab.

In the lower right of the Spelling and Grammar box, Writing Style should be set at Grammar & Style--not Grammar Only. Change it to Grammar & Style, if necessary.

If you have an early version of Office, you may need to set Writing Style on Formal. Or you can click Settings, and then be sure that the box for Passive sentences is checked. It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with what is available under Settings so you get helpful grammar and spelling suggestions--not ones you always ignore.

Once your grammar and spelling checker is set to flag passive verbs, you can forget about them. Microsoft will do the work of identifying them for you. Although the software is not perfect, I find that it flags at least 90 percent of passive verb phrases.

When you get the message "Passive Voice (consider revising)" from your grammar and spelling checker, remember this: In some places, passive verbs are perfect. See my tip "Know Where Passive Verbs Belong" for examples of those places.

A final note on passive verbs: They have nothing to do with the psychological term "passive-aggressive." At least not in this blog!

Lynn