“Verbs are the most important of all your tools. They push the sentence forward and give it momentum. Active verbs push hard; passive verbs tug fitfully.” -- William Zinsser, On Writing Well

I can form and use verbs in the active and passive voice.

1. John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. 2. Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

1. Towards the raft swam the shark. (passive) 2. The shark swam towards the raft. (active)

 The subject performs the action.  Ex. The dog bit the boy.  Subject: dog  Action: bit

When we want to make the active object more important President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

 My wallet was stolen. (The thief in unknown)

Example: President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.  My wallet was stolen. (The thief is unknown)

Ms. Verge was killed by LeBron James. (passive) Vs. LeBron James killed Ms. Verge. (active)

Example  Poisonous gases were found in six factories. The use of passive emphasizes the finding of gases, not who found them.

1. Active: The dispatcher is notifying police that three prisoners have escaped. 2. Passive: Police are being notified that three prisoners have escaped.

 Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver-transplant operation yesterday.

 Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver- transplant operation yesterday

 A new experimental liver- transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday.

 A new experimental liver-transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday

1. A house was built at the end of the road. 2. The spider built a web. 3. I finished building my airplane. 4. I am building a dog house.

#1. A house was built at the end of the road.

1. The cupcakes were supplied by Ms. Jones. 2. The students were put to sleep by the boring teacher. 3. The teacher put the students to sleep with her boring lecture. 4. Towards the raft swam a shark.

 3. The teacher put the students to sleep with her boring lecture.

 Towards the raft swam a shark.

 The shark swam towards the raft.

I Do: The two scientists could not arrive at a conclusion on anything. The two scientist could not conclude on anything.

2. They held discussions on several topics. 3. However, neither could put forth a proposal for a plan. 4. They only made a translation of previous studies.

 The two scientists could not conclude anything.  They discussed several topics.  However, neither proposed a plan.  They only translated previous studies.

 The seeds were scattered by Jessica. (passive) Hint: Place the noun/s doing the action before the verb. Try it!

 Jessica scattered the seeds. (active voice)

1. Houses were destroyed by the storm. ex. The storm destroyed the houses. 2. The cake was eaten by me. 3. Inexpensive ways for people to have fun are provided by parks. 4. Oxygen was discovered in 1774 by Joseph Priestley. 5. A kitten was chosen by the family to have as a pet.

 The storm destroyed houses  I ate the cake.  Parks provide inexpensive fun.  Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in  The family chose a kitten as a pet.

 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. Ms. Jones impressed the boy. A past participle is the ed form of regular verbs for irregular verbs: en, n, t ) and can fill the empty slot in this sentence: “I had _______ it.” I had washed it. I had written it. I had yelled it.

 s-voice_quiz.htm

Ebest, Sally Barr and Charles T. Brusaw. Writing from A to Z. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing, Keen, Michael and Katherine H. Adams. Easy Access. Boston: McGraw Hill, Troyka, Lynn Quitman. Quick Access. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,  University Learning Center  UP: PC 247 / BB: ACI 160  Developed by Jeniffer Viscarra