Passive Voice and Literary Present World Literature

What is Passive Voice? Passive voice is when a writer constructs a sentences that does not have the subject doing the action. It is a problem because it makes the sentence less coherent and more difficult to read.

Identifying the passive voice All passives consist of a form of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were, being, been) plus a past participle. Example: The boy was impressed by Ms. Jones. A past participle is the ed form of regular verbs – for irregular verbs: en, n, t (i.e. spent) – and can fill the empty slot in this sentence: “I had _______ it.”

When should you use the active voice? Use active voice unless you are required or have very specific reasons for doing otherwise. Active voice generally leads to more concise writing. It clarifies who is performing the action.

Take a look at the sentences below: For each sentence, identify the subject and the verb. Nancy dropped her keys. The keys were dropped by Nancy.

Identify which sentences are correct and which are passive Identify which sentences are correct and which are passive. Correct the passive sentences to make them correct 1. The dog was taken for a walk by his owner, Sam. 2. Sam took his dog, Toby, to the dog park. 3. The park was cleaned by the neighborhood association. 4. The park needed new grass and trees. 5. Toby saw a squirrel, and his owner lost the leash. 6. He was punished by his owner.

Literary Present Unlike a real event, a scene within a work of art does not happen once and for all. It is always ready to be experienced afresh by a new reader, viewer or listener. Consequently, the time frame for discussing such a scene is the present. Though you should use the past tense to write about the historical creating of the ‘art’ work, you should use the present tense to convey what the work ‘says to us.’ This function of the present tense is called the literary present.

Literary Present and Historical Past Shakespeare reveals Hamlet’s mind through soliloquy.  OR Dickens exposes the conditions of London’s slums in Oliver Twist. Historical Past Shakespeare was probably familiar with the plays of Kyd and Marlowe when he wrote his great tragedies. OR Charles Dickens wrote several novels that exposed social injustice during England’s Industrial Revolution.

Quoted Text in Past Tense Do not allow the past form of a quoted verb to influence your own choice of tense. It is hard to keep to the literary present when you have just quoted a passage containing verbs in the past tense. The tendency is to allow your own verbs to slip into the past. Keep to the rule, however: use the present tense for actions or states under immediate discussion.

Quoted Text in Past Tense, cont. Do Not: D.H. Lawrence describes Cecelia as a “big dark-complexioned, pug-faced young woman who very rarely spoke…” When she did speak, however, her words were sharp enough to kill her Aunt Pauline. Do: D.H. Lawrence describes Cecelia as a “big dark-complexioned, pug-faced young woman who very rarely spoke…” When she does speak, however, her words are sharp enough to kill her Aunt Pauline.

Exceptions to the Rule Exception One: When an event in a plot follows certain developments or anticipates others that you want to mention, use the literary present for the action being discussed and the past or future (and related tenses) for the earlier or later actions. When Hamlet’s suspicions were confirmed by the ghost ,he vowed revenge. By Act Two he fears that his self-doubts have dulled his purpose. He engages a troupe of players to reenact the murder and swears that the play will “catch the conscience of the King…” Notice that the writer has chosen a point of focus in Act Two of the play.

Exceptions to the Rule, cont. When referring to non-contemporary author’s ideas without reference to a particular work, use the past: Plato believed that artists were a menace to the ideal republic.  OR Thoreau was convinced that people could find peace by staying exactly where they were.

Effective writing Remember, if the reader cannot understand the writing, it is almost always the writer’s fault. Effective writing is fluid and easy to follow. Avoiding passive voice can help this. The most common times students use passive voice is in sentences in which they would normally use first or second person. Be careful when you are trying to reconstruct a sentence for this reason.