Active & Passive Voice

Reasons to Avoid Passive Voice Sometimes the use of passive voice can create awkward sentences. Also, overuse of passive voice throughout an essay can cause your prose to seem flat and uninteresting. In scientific writing, however, passive voice is more readily accepted since using it allows one to write without using personal pronouns or the names of particular researchers as the subjects of sentences.

When a verb is in the active voice, the subject of the sentence is also the doer of the action.  Active verbs move the action and reveal the actors. A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence.  Passive verbs emphasize the receiver, the victim. Passive: The car was crashed. Active: I crashed the car.

Locate the __________________ Locate __________ is performing the action? If the person performing the action is ________________ the verb. The Sentence is __________________ To know if a sentence is active or passive: Verb What, or who In front of Active

1. Kelly ate the jelly donut. Verb: ______________ Who did the eating? ____________________ Kelly is ___________________ ate. Sentence is __________________________ 2. The test was taken by the Sophomore class. Verb: ___________________ Who took the test? ______________________ Sophomore class is _________________ taken. Sentence is __________________________ ate Kelly before active was taken The Sophomore class after passive

Uncle Lou met our plane. ____ I was taught to play the piano by my aunt. ________________ The ambulance has been called. ____________________ Active or Passive? Underline the verb, Circle the Person performing the verb, then label it Active or Passive AV PV

Directions: Distinguishing Between the Active and Passive Voice: After each sentence, write active of passive to describe the verb. 1) Sprinter Evelyn Ashford took home two gold medals from the 1984 Olympics. _______________________________ 2) The cucumbers and the tomatoes will be planted by next week. _______________________________ 3) The artwork of painter Pop Chalee reflects the traditions of the Pueblo people. _______________________________ 4) The roof of Aunt Vicki’s house has been badly damaged by the high winds. _______________________________ AV PV AV PV

5) The children’s sculptures have been displayed in a case at the public library. _______________________________ 6) Many bird books from the early 1900s are graced by the illustrations of Louis Fuentes. _______________________________ 7) In the attic Dad found an old letter from his great uncle. _______________________________ 8) Kaya and Sabrina have been working on their science project for three weeks. _______________________________ 9)Large donations were sent by several anonymous individuals. _______________________________ PV AV PV

10) Snapping turtles defend themselves with their strong, sharp jaws. _______________________________ 11)Sometimes our efforts are not fully appreciated. _______________________________ 12)The man must have eaten 10 hot dogs in one sitting! _______________________________ 13)The ballots were counted as the candidates watched anxiously. _______________________________ 14) The high jump record was finally beaten last Saturday. _______________________________ AV PV

Rewrite the following passage changing the voice from passive to active where appropriate. The room was entered by Dr. Wheeler, at which point words of advice regarding active verbs were spoken by him. It was decided by the rebellious class that the final paper of the semester would be written entirely in passive voice. Remarks were made by a distraught Wheeler; protests were made by the students. When Dr. Wheeler entered the room, he gave advice about using active verbs. The rebellious class decided to use active voice for the entirety of the final semester paper. A distraught Mr. Wheeler made remarks; Students made protests.

PV AV PV Write a passive sentence about a character from the last book we read. Write an active sentence about a character from the last movie you saw.

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1) voice/ voice/ 2) 3) staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/sriddle/.../WRRs/ /WRR10% 20Packet.pdf 4) staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/bj one s/WRR10-packet.doc 5) web.cn.edu/k wheeler /documents/Passive_Bloodshe d.pdf

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