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

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)

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)

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

Passive Voice

Example: President Kennedy was

killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

My wallet was stolen. (The thief is unknown)

Passive voice

Ms. Verge was killed by LeBron James. (passive) Vs. LeBron James killed Ms.

Verge. (active)

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.

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)

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.

Active or Passive?A or P?

Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver-transplant operation yesterday.

Active is the correct answer

Surgeons successfully performed a new experimental liver-transplant operation yesterday

Active or Passive?A or P

A new experimental liver-transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday.

Passive is the correct answer

A new experimental liver-transplant operation was performed successfully yesterday

Which sentence uses the passive voice?

1. A house was built at the end of the road.

2. The spider built a web.3. I finished building my

airplane.4. I am building a dog

house.

Correct answer.

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

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.

Correct answer

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

Rewrite to make it active!

Towards the raft swam a shark.

Rewrite

Towards the raft swam a shark.

The shark swam towards the raft.

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).

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.

Possible Answers

The two scientists could not conclude anything.

They discussed several topics. However, neither proposed a plan. They only translated previous

studies.

Change the Passive voice to the Active Voice

The seeds were scattered by Jessica. (passive)

Hint: Place the noun/s doing the action before the verb. Try it!

Answers

Jessica scattered the seeds. (active voice)

Revise by avoiding to be verbs

1. 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.

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.

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.

Practice quiz

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-voice_quiz.htm

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.

University Learning Center UP: PC 247 / BB: ACI 160

Developed by Jeniffer Viscarra