Transcript Active and Passive Voice & Troublesome Verbs

Active and Passive Voice
Review of Sentence Structure:
Order of most sentences is Subject, Verb,
Object (SVO)
 Molly ran home
 Subject
 Verb
 Object
 Subject: the one doing the action
 Object: the thing receiving the action
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Definitions
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Active Voice – a verb in this tense expresses
an action performed by its subject.
 The blazing fire destroyed the walls.
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Passive Voice – a verb in this tense
expresses an action done to its subject.
 The walls were destroyed by the blazing
fire.
Passive Voice
The object in an active sentence becomes
subject of passive.
 In passive, the subject is in a prepositional
phrase.
 Active: She grows corn on her farm.
 Passive: Corn is grown on her farm.
 Active: She will plant the corn in 2 weeks
 Passive: The corn will be planted in 2
weeks.
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Passive Voice
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Notice the change in verb tense:
 Active: The students took the test.
 Passive: The test was taken by the
students.
 Active: I remember the Alamo.
 Passive: The Alamo was remembered
by me.
Passive Voice
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Verbs in passive sentences have the
following construction:
 “to be” verb + -ed/-en form of verb.
Active: I remember the Alamo.
 Passive: The Alamo was remembered
by me.
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When to Use Passive Voice
When performer of action is difficult to
specify.
 The mayor was elected by a landslide.
 When you don’t know who performed an
action.
 My brother’s bicycle was stolen yesterday.
 When you don’t want to give away the
performer’s identity.
 Vicious rumors have been spread about
him.
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Remember, however, that active
voice writing is much more direct
and forceful.
Identifying Active/Passive Voice
The art of Lucia Wilcox was admired by many
artists around the world.
 Her blindness during the last years made her
final works particularly interesting.
 Exhibits of her paintings were shown in art
galleries all over the world.
 Her blindness occurred suddenly, though not
unexpectedly.
 It was caused by a tumor near the optic nerve.
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