User blog comment:JohnathanNash/Editing and some things to look for./@comment-26030957-20170201233838/@comment-5101683-20170205191043

Passive voice is essentially when you can delete the thing doing the action and it's still a grammatical sentence.

"Editing was explained by Johnathan" becomes "Editing was explained."

"Johnathan explained editing" becomes "Explained editing."

I think that what you're thinking of is called "passive language," which you are definitely right about.

Passive Voice Passive Voice Active Voice vs Passive Voice