1. Active vs. Passive Voice
“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

2. The subject performs the action. Ex. The dog bit the boy. Subject: dog
Active Voice
The subject performs the action.
Ex. The dog bit the boy.
Subject: dog
Action: bit
The boy was bit by the dog. (passive voice)

3. Use Passive voice
When we want to make the active object more important, or we do not know the active subject. President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. My wallet was stolen. (The thief in unknown)

4. we do not know the active subject
o we do not know the active subject r
we do not know the active subject.
My wallet was stolen. (The thief in unknown

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

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

7. Poisonous gases were found in six factories.
Passive Voice (con’d)
Example
Poisonous gases were found in six factories.
The use of passive emphasizes the finding of gases, not who found them.

8. When to use passive voice
Use passive voice when you do not wish to emphasize the subject of the sentence.
Example:
Smoking is prohibited. (passive)
The management prohibits smoking. (active)

9. What works best? Active or Passive
1. Active: The dispatcher is notifying police that three prisoners have escaped.
2. Passive: Police are being notified that three prisoners have escaped.

10. Active or Passive? A or P?
Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver-transplant operation yesterday.

11. Active is the correct answer
Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver-transplant operation yesterday

12. Active or Passive? A or P
A new experimental liver-transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday.

13. Passive is the correct answer
A new experimental liver-transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday

14. Which sentence uses the passive voice?
A house was built at the end of the road.
The spider built a web.
I finished building my airplane.
I am building a dog house.

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

16. Which sentence is in the active voice?
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.

17. 3. The teacher put the students to sleep with her boring lecture.
Correct answer
3. The teacher put the students to sleep with her boring lecture.

18. Rewrite to make it active!
Towards the raft swam a shark.

19. Towards the raft swam a shark.
Rewrite
Towards the raft swam a shark.
The shark swam towards the raft.

20. Rewrite the following sentence by changing nouns to verbs
I Do: The two scientists could not arrive at a conclusion on anything.
The two scientist could not conclude on anything. (active).

21. Rewrite the following sentences by changing nouns to verbs.
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.

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

23. Change the Passive voice to the Active Voice
Hint: Place the noun/s doing the action before the verb. Try it!
The seeds were scattered by Jessica. (passive)

24. Jessica scattered the seeds. (active voice)
Answers
Jessica scattered the seeds. (active voice)

25. Revise by avoiding to be verbs
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.

26. Possible Answers The storm destroyed houses I ate the cake.
Parks provide inexpensive fun.
Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774.
The family chose a kitten as a pet.

27. Avoid forms of the verb to be
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.

28. Practice quiz

29. Works consulted
Ebest, Sally Barr and Charles T. Brusaw. Writing from A to Z. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing, 2000.
Keen, Michael and Katherine H. Adams. Easy Access. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.
Troyka, Lynn Quitman. Quick Access. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
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