Passive & Active Voice

Passive & Active Voice What is voice? Voice, in a story, relates to WHO IS TALKING, TELLING THE STORY, OR THE MAIN CHARACTER Two kinds of voice Active & Passive

Active Voice The subject is doing something to the object The first noun is doing something to the second noun The boy ate the potato. Then he beat up his brother. After that his mother punished him. LEFT TO RIGHT FLOW OF ACTION

pop eat help

Passive Voice The subject is receiving an action from the object The first noun is receiving an action from another noun The potato was eaten by the boy. The brother was beaten up by the boy. He was punished by his mother. RIGHT TO LEFT FLOW OF ACTION

pop eat help

Passive voice formula Start with a be verb Next, add your verb + ED Depends on your verb tense Was, were, been, being, am, is, are Next, add your verb + ED The ED is very important To finish, you can add “BY _____” You don’t have to It depends if that noun is important

How to identify passive voice If you can add “by zombies” after the verb, and it still makes sense, it’s passive voice The money was spent The car was hit The boy was running. The car was hit by the oncoming truck The tree was knocked over by the storm

Why are we learning passive & active voice now? Active voice is usually considered clearer and more concise Passive voice can be considered evasive Some college professors will take off points for using passive voice

teach

send

Practice: Passive or Active? The librarian read the book to the students. The employees are paid every Friday. I washed my car three weeks ago. His hair was cut by a professional stylist. The national anthem is always sung at football games.

The criminals were seen running from the scene of the crime. Have you ever been to Chicago? What was discussed in class today? Were you thinking about planes just now?

They left their backpacks in the gym. Several items have been stolen from the lost-and-found. They returned their library books yesterday. These items were manufactured in China.

She got her hair cut at the salon. We haven’t cut the grass in two weeks. The pool was cleaned yesterday. None of the homework was turned in late. She had pointed to him as the leader of the group.