Transcript Active Verbs - wendtenglish201f09

Active Verbs
by Mitch Perry and Lauren Burton
What Are Active Verbs?
• Come immediately after the subject of the sentence
and specifically describe what the subject is doing
• NOT “To Be” verbs
• Good action verbs can compress multiple words into a
more specific one
– Ex. “The biker moved more quickly toward the finish
line.” -vs.- “The biker accelerated toward the finish line.”
• Active verbs provide a direct form of writing
– More professional, precise
– Better GRADES!!
Active Voice
• Active Sentence Format:
– [Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving
action]
– Ex. “I threw the ball.”
• Passive Sentence Format:
– [Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle
of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
– Ex. “The ball was thrown by me.”
Activity
• The ice cream was eaten while the children were waiting for the park to
open.
 The children ate the ice cream while waiting for the park to open.
• The corpse was moved from the murder scene sometime between
Sunday night and Monday afternoon.
 The murderer moved the corpse from the murder scene sometime
between Sunday night and Monday afternoon.
• The question was answered by the class clown before the serious
students had a chance at it.
 The class clown answered the question before the serious students
had a chance at it.
• Fermentation was begun when the sugar was added to the fruit juice.
 When Sandra added sugar to the fruit juice, the fermentation
process began.
Lists of Active Verbs
• U of Albany - Active Verbs List
– http://www.albany.edu/~cg219/averbs.html
• WriteExpress® Action Verbs List
– http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html
• Grantproposal.com Active Verb List
– http://www.grantproposal.com/proposal_verbs_
inner.html
• Active and Passive Sentences
– www.uhv.edu/ac/grammar/pdf/active.pdf