1. Passive vs. Active Voice
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
Passive vs. Active Voice
Engl 2311

2. What is “voice” and why should you care?
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
What is “voice” and why should you care?
Some detailed explanation for what grammatical “voice” is, why y’all often use awkward passive voice sentences, and how to edit this effectively.
This slideshow will help you if:
You get a lot of “awk” or especially “awk pass” comments on your writing.

3. ACTIVE and PASSIVE Voice
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
ACTIVE and PASSIVE Voice
“Voice” indicates the relation of the subject to the action of the verb
SomeTHING is ACTING on someTHING
SUBJECT / ACTION / OBJECT
Jack Bauer defeated the evil president.
Voice can be active or passive

4. In active voice: The subject is CLEARLY doing the action
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
In active voice:
The subject is CLEARLY doing the action
The subject is emphasized more than the object
The subject MUST be stated
Ex:
The students listened carefully to the lecture.

5. In passive voice: The subject sounds like it is being acted upon
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
In passive voice:
The subject sounds like it is being acted upon
The subject takes a back seat to the object
The object MUST be stated
Ex:
The lecture was listened to carefully by the students.

6. Some more examples: Active Jack defeated the evil President. Passive
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
Some more examples:
Active
Jack defeated the evil President.
Subject: Jack
Necessary to the action: HECK YES!
Passive
The evil President was defeated by Jack.
Necessary to the action: not really

7. How to identify ACTIVE & PASSIVE voice
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
How to identify ACTIVE & PASSIVE voice
Find the main action in the sentence
Find the main subject that’s doing the main action
No main subject? The sentence is passive voice!
Cut out the main subject and read out loud
Complete sentence? The sentence is passive voice!
Incomplete sentence? The sentence is active voice!

8. WHY passive voice is awkward
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
WHY passive voice is awkward
Passive NOT GOOD for emphasizing subject
The terrorist threat was defeated. (by Jack).
Passive generally makes writing LESS CLEAR
Jack Bauer shouldn’t be threatened. (by what?)
One shouldn’t threaten Jack Bauer. (“one”=who?)
The evil president shouldn’t threaten Jack. (A-HA!)

9. To emphasize the performer (subject) of the action, USE ACTIVE VOICE.
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
When to use which voice?
To emphasize the performer (subject) of the action, USE ACTIVE VOICE.
To write in everyday conversational language, USE ACTIVE VOICE.
To hide the performer (subject) of the action or to emphasize the receiver (object) of the action, use the passive voice.

10. Rule of Thumb Generally, always use ACTIVE VOICE
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
Rule of Thumb
Generally, always use ACTIVE VOICE
active voice conveys MORE INFORMATION
active voice uses FEWER WORDS
active voice is HOW PEOPLE NORMALLY TALK
ONLY use passive voice for a VERY GOOD reason
for ex, if you want to DE-EMPHASIZE, HIDE, or DON’T KNOW information

11. ONE reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
ONE reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Reason #1
You want to emphasize the object (receiver) of the action more than the performer.
Example:
Kristen was presented with an award. (by the president.)
The president presented Kristen with an award.

12. TWO reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
TWO reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Reason #2
You want to hide the subject (performer) of the action.
Example:
The cable was broken. (by our group of engineers.)
Our group of engineers broke the cable.

13. THREE reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
THREE reason to use PASSIVE voice:
Reason #3
You simply don’t know who the performer is or was.
Example:
The cave was discovered in 1929.
Someone discovered the cave in 1929.

14. Practice Change these to the opposite voice:
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
Practice
Change these to the opposite voice:
The “Bauer 9i” program was released by Oracle today.
The test was failed by half the engineering students.

15. Practice Change these to the opposite voice:
Copyright 2012 Art Fricke
Practice
Change these to the opposite voice:
The instructor wrote the lecture.
The president reported that the weapons were not found.