Transcript Passive Voice and Nominalizations

Passive Voice and
Nominalizations
Active vs. Passive
John drove his car.
becomes…
The car was driven.
Making it Passive
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Shift object to front
“To be” + verb
Subject moves to end of sentence and
sometimes disappears altogether
Is it “Wrong”?
There are times when the passive
voice is acceptable; however, it often
pushes the main characters toward the
end of a sentence and makes your
meaning unclear. Like having a
delayed thesis, it slows reader
comprehension.
Political Uses of Passive Voice
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“Mistakes were made.”
“He was found to be a poor job
candidate.”
“The problem will be rectified at the
appropriate time.”
“Apologies will be delivered.”
Fixing the Passive Voice
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Identify the main action (verb).
Identify what character (person, place, or
thing) is doing the action. If no character
exists, you may have to create one.
Shift the character to the front of the
sentence.
Put the verb in an active voice or use a new
verb.
Revise these
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The car was driven by John to the football
game.
Mistakes were made.
It has been decided that she will not get a
raise.
Real-World Example
It can also stem from academic laziness:
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Cavalier Daily (mostly in last two
paragraphs … but appears earlier,
too).
How to use MS Word to help you
identify passive voice.
Nominalizations
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Ack! Intimidating word.
Rough definition: when writers turn
good verbs (and adjectives) into nouns
… which usually makes the meaning
of a sentence unclear.
Making a story unclear
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A relocation effort was undertaken by
multiple parties.
Construction of sheltering structures
commenced.
Several exhalations of destructive
value occurred in rapid succession.
Final demolition resulted and caloric
intake became a desired end point.
As opposed to …
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Three little pigs left their mother to
make their way in the world.
The first little pig met a man selling
straw … and built a house from it ….
A wolf walked up and said, “Little Pig,
little pig, let me in…”
What’s the difference?
Commercial
An example:
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
Meaning is unclear, right?
Better?
“When governments intervene in fast
changing technologies, they distort
how markets evolve and interfere with
how new products develop.”
Diagnosing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Feels awkward … meaning unclear
Diagnosing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Underline first 7 words or so. Is there a
concrete character? If not, trouble …
Diagnosing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Former verbs with tacked-on noun
converters like “tion,” “ence,” “ism,”
“ings,” “ness.”
Diagnosing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Lots of prepositional phrases?
Analyzing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Decide who your characters are …
especially concrete characters.
Analyzing Nominalizations
“Governmental intervention in fast
changing technologies has led to the
distortion of market evolution and
interference in new product
development.”
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Find nominalizations and convert them
back to verbs.
Revise
“When governments intervene in fast
changing technologies, they distort
how markets evolve and interfere with
how new products develop.”
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Put characters in front of actions
whenever possible. (Unless you are
Alan Greenspan.)
Examples of nominalizations
Evaluate
Decide
Revise
Outsource
Careless
Ambivalent
evaluation
decision
revision
outsourcing
carelessness
ambivalence
A Nominalization
Lincoln’s hope was for the
preservation of the Union without war,
but the South’s attack on Fort Sumter
made war an inevitability.
Lincoln’s hope was for the
preservation of the Union without war,
but the South’s attack on Fort Sumter
made war an inevitability.
Nominalizations
Characters
Another example
There were predictions by business
executives that the economy would
experience a quick revival.
Nominalizations
Characters
Attempts at explanations for increases
in voter participation in this year’s
elections were offered by several
candidates.
Nominalizations
Characters
An understanding as to the need for
controls over drinking on campus was
recognized by fraternities.
There is uncertainty at the CIA about
North Korean intentions as to the
likelihood of missile orbitization over
the short-term horizon of three next
days.
Complaints by editorial writers about
voter apathy rarely offer suggestions
with any viability on how to dispel it.