1. Active &
Passive Voice

2. 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.

3. Active Voice
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.
Active:
I crashed the car.
Passive:
The car was crashed.

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

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

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

7. Active Voice
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

8. Active Voice PV AV AV PV 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 AV PV PV

9. Active Voice AV AV PV PV 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 AV PV PV PV

10. A distraught Mr. Wheeler made remarks; Students made protests.
Passive Voice WS 2
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.

11. Write a passive sentence about a character from the last book we read.
Passive Voice Quiz PV PV AV 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.

12. Passive Voice Quiz PV AV PV AV PV PV AV

13. Passive Voice Quiz AV PV AV AV PV AV PV AV

14. Passive Voice Quiz AV PV AV AV PV AV PV AV

15. Work Cited http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/passive-voice/
staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/sriddle/.../WRRs/ /WRR10%20Packet.pdf
staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/bjones/WRR10-packet.doc
web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Passive_Bloodshed.pdf

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