Active Voice Where the subject of the sentence is doing the action (Subject is doing something) Example: the boy kicked the ball

Passive Voice Where the target of the action becomes the subject (Subject isn't doing anything) Example: the ball was kicked by the boy

Examples of Active Voice “I will assign presentation times.” (Stafford.) “I know you wrote poetry on Radow’s side of the wall” (Stafford.) “Please bring your permission slips and money.” (Stafford.) “We spent time discussing last night’s homework.” (Stafford.) “I’m still in a little shock over the level of content MIHS was allowed to deliver. (Stafford.) I’ll collect Gatsby take home tests tomorrow.” (Stafford.) I am looking forward to our time together tomorrow. (Stafford.)

“At this inquiry she sat up and opened her eyes.” (Fitzgerald. 220) “In his wallet Lieutenant Cross carried two photographs of Martha.” (O’ Brien. 5) Examples of Passive Voice

Bad passive and active voice Depends on context Passive voice often good in science or reports “It has been found experimentally that the ratio of the amounts of adenine to thymine…are always very close to unity for deoxyribose nucleic acid.” (Watson.) No “we” Active voice: I made a Mistakes Passive voice: Mistakes were made –Eliminate subject “The Money was stolen” –(who stole the money?) Active voice often makes sentences easier to understand

Activity She threw the ball (A/P) The ball was thrown by her (A/P) The DNA was sequenced by us (A/P) We sequenced the DNA (A/P) The money was stolen by a thief (A/P) A thief stole the money (A/P)