Actually, the reading ease score is supposed to be higher. The lower the score, the more difficult the passage. I think it goes up to 120 or something. It's supposedly a tenth grade paragraph.
It's not so much that passive voice makes the sentence more complex as that it inverts the sentence, slowing the pace down and making it harder to read. That's why your grammar school teachers always told you to avoid it. In general, that's good advice, unless it really matters that the subject the receiver of the action. If it's not essential to the meaning, passive voice can sound like you're avoiding the topic or being wishy washy, but mostly it's just that active voice sounds more lively and direct.
Clearly I spent too much time in writing and lit class.
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Date: 2009-06-11 02:43 am (UTC)It's not so much that passive voice makes the sentence more complex as that it inverts the sentence, slowing the pace down and making it harder to read. That's why your grammar school teachers always told you to avoid it. In general, that's good advice, unless it really matters that the subject the receiver of the action. If it's not essential to the meaning, passive voice can sound like you're avoiding the topic or being wishy washy, but mostly it's just that active voice sounds more lively and direct.
Clearly I spent too much time in writing and lit class.