1. A little more on verbs…

2. Active and Passive Voice An active voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject acting. Active voice is usually more vigorous than passive voice. Johnson discussed the problem is active voice. The problem was discussed by Johnson is passive voice.

3. Passive voice A passive voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject as the recipient of the action: The books were distributed. Passive voice can make sentences weak because the subject of the sentence is not doing anything, and passive voice also tends to leave out important information.

4. The problem was discussed. Who discussed the problem? Johnson and Boswell discussed the problem. We have energy and information. Active voice is vigorous.

5. More examples of active and passive voice… Active VoiceThe meteor struck the ship. Passive VoiceThe ship was struck by the meteor. Active VoiceThe literary society presented Dickens the award. Passive VoiceDickens was presented with an award.

6. Parallel Verb Tense Parallelism in tense means staying with one tense, unless there is a reason to change. Keeping verb tenses parallel is good writing technique.

7. Examples of parallelism Not parallel: When Charles Dickens went to America, he gives many speeches and will feel that his trip was successful. After he returned to England, he begins to lose the buoyant sprint he found in America, and he descends into melancholy. Parallel: When Charles Dickens went to America, he gave many speeches and felt that his trip was successful. After he returned to England, he began to lose the buoyant sprint he found in America, and he descened into melancholy.