Passive voice/active voice, and writing as if a paper versus a story.

College Essays
1

<p>First of all, I know EVERYONE hates Passive voice in the english department, but is it anathema in the essay writing world? Because I think the passive voice used in my essay does not detract from the story, and I do have more active than passive, just not an absence of passive.</p>

<p>And next, are colloquialisms and stuff okay? Like casual things your english teacher would castrate you for putting on a term paper? How about using "you". Also, I have a good vocabulary when I sit and think of how to craft a sentence you would see in P.G. Wodehouse or something, but should I write the essay as how I would normally just speak or tell a story to a normal person? Or should I take the time to make my essay be choc full of hit words that I wouldn't use when talking to my friend, but I did use when writing a paper on War and Peace?</p>

2

<p>I think you should go for the normal-speech style...after all, your college essay is supposed to show the admissions officers what you're like, not how many ten-dollar words you know.</p>

<p>In most cases, you can use active voice over passive voice without sounding strange. It really depends on the situation at hand.</p>