3. Agency test: In the case of action verbs, identify the subject and the main verb (the main verb) in the clause. Is the subject sitting passively while an external agent performs the action to do so? If so, it`s the passive voice. (Does this mean that the five FBI agents paved the terrorist on the wall? Or does it mean that when the five FBI agents entered the room, the terrorist had paved the wall for himself? Or did someone else completely pin the terrorist against the wall before the FBI arrived? It is impossible to say with a passive vocal structure in the last sentence.) The sentence becomes a burden for the reader and probably also for the author. As is often the case, the passive here has stifled potential verbs and triggered a train of out-of-control prepositions. But the reader`s task becomes much easier in the revised version below: you`ve probably heard of the passive voice – perhaps in a comment from an English teacher or in the grammar checker of a word processor. In both cases, you have (probably) been away from the liabilities. What for? Why is the passive so hated? After all, it has already been used twice on this site (now three times). If the passive voice is used frequently, it can make your writing look flat and monotonous. However, there are cases where passive voting is a better choice than active voting. Egad! Some grammatical vandals transformed E.B. White`s active vocal ensembles into a passive vocal structure.

Save his writing! Convert the passage into an active voice and compare the two. Let`s look at some other examples of passive voice: There are two main features that will help you identify a passive sentence: To revise the above, I just looked for the two buried things (simulations and areas) in the original version that could actually do something, and I clarified the sentence on these two names, by putting them in front of active verbs. This is the general principle that you should follow when composing in the active voice: place concrete nouns that can perform work before active verbs. You may have noticed something unique in the previous two sentences: the subject of the sentence is not the person (or thing) performing the action. The passive “cache” that performs the action. While these sentences are grammatically completely flawless, we don`t know who hit “me” or what hit the car. Voice is a nebulous term in writing. It can refer to the general “feeling” of writing, or it can be used in a more technical sense. In this section, we will focus on this last meaning by discussing the active and passive voice. However, the passive voice often captures writers.

To make it clear who does what, authors who use passive voice should either mark cumbersome sentences at the end of clauses, for example. B “through so-and-so”, i.e. omit this sentence and make the sentence unclear. Two “voices” appear in English grammar: the active voice and the passive voice. The difference is subtle at first, but it`s easy to master once the grammarian understands the basics. Examine the subject and the main verb in the following two sentences: 1. Test the verb: Look for help verbs, especially the forms of the verb “to be” in the sentence, such as .B. is/ am/ are/ were/ were/were/be/were/were/ont/have/ont? (Passive voting clauses usually have one or imply one.) Passive choice places a slight emphasis on “evaporation rate”, while active choice focuses on “the size of an aperture”. Simple. So why so much fuss? Because passive constructions can produce grammatically confusing sentences like this: Passive is created with the verb to be (e.B.

the song is sung; it has been beaten from behind). Remember that these are irregular conjugates. Its forms include am, are, is, was, were and will be, which we heard about earlier in the course. In sentence A, we may be wondering what it means to strike. The answer is the subject, boy. This subject actively executes the verb; It is active to “make” the verb to a direct object (the ball). This virtuous phrase is with an active voice. Remember, being also has more complex forms such as being, is being and was being. Are the following sentences in the active or passive voice? Note: Sometimes passive vocal set is needed if the speaker wants to hide or obscure what is happening to the agent. For example, a governor running for re-election might say, “In the last election, taxes were raised throughout the year.” The sentence with the passive voice hides the agent. He would be uncomfortable telling potential voters, “In the last election, I raised taxes during the year.” In this last sentence, the one who performs the action is painfully clear! This type of situation is one of the few times when the passive form proves useful, albeit in a somewhat misleading way that I would advise against. You can also use passive voice to draw the reader`s attention to specific words or for variety.

(1) Active sentences are often more concise than passive voices. To express the same idea in passive, it often takes 30% to 40% more words: In sentence B, one might ask what is the subject? (Ball) What does the subject do? (Nothing.) The topic does not apply to anything else. So who exactly makes the verb meet? It`s not clear unless you paste a prepositional phrase “through the boy” at the end of the sentence. The subject sits there passively and does nothing while an external agent performs the action (hitting). Since the subject of the sentence is grammatically passive, this sentence is a passive voice. Ugh! What ugly sentences! It hurts my head to read them. These are more like “scholars” than useful, direct rhetorical warnings. If sentence by sentence appears in this twisted format, the author will drive the reader crazy with its distorted and artificial syntax.

No one talks like that, so why write like that? So what`s the difference between these two voices? In the simplest words, an active set of voices is written in the form of “A made B”. (For example, “Carmen sings the song.”) A passive sentence is written in the form “B is made by A”. (For example, “The song is sung by Carmen.”) Both constructions are grammatically impeccable and correct. In sentences like these, it`s hard to argue whether it would be better to leave the voice passive (which is pretty concise in this case) or add an active vocal structure (which adds extra length in these cases). When in doubt, stick to the active voice. Because to have other uses than just creating the passive voice, we have to be careful when identifying passive phrases. It`s easy to confuse a phrase like “She fell” or “It`s short” with a passive sentence. However, in “She Fell” it was simply pointed out that the sentence takes place in the past. In “It`s Short,” it`s a connection verb. When no “real” action takes place, it simply acts as a connection verb. 2.

Zombie Test: Could you insert the phrase “zombies” after the verb? If so, would the sentence still have a grammatical meaning? If so, you can have a passive voice. For example, “the dog was fed” (by zombies). (3) The passive voting clause may be confusing or unclear, especially in long sentences. (5) Language studies show that native English speakers are better able to remember the material they read in an active voice than the same material in the passive voice. Something in the mind of the English speaker remains focused on a “subject-verb-object” model. Passive voting phrases somehow derail this mental process of retention. If you want your readers to remember what you write, use active voice. If they remember better the material you`ve spent so much time with, you have a better chance of creating an argument that stays with them and changes their way of thinking.

Ask yourself three questions to identify the evil phrase. If the sentence does not meet all three rules, discover the fearsome passive voice, clean your paper of its infernal smell by converting the sentence into an active voice: convert the following into an active voice and listen to how much easier it is to understand! (By whom? The speaker? A car thief? Through teletubbies?) Click here to download a PDF document that deals with the same material. In the last generation, the family built a new house and raised a new breed of children. (Active voice: 17 words) Verbs to be and prepositions do not add much to the sentence in terms of color. You could express the same idea of an active voice with less length, but without lost content: in the last generation, a new house was built by the family, and a new brood of children was raised by them. (Passive vote – 25 words, about 30% more) If a reason is to be considered by readers for an argument put forward by an author, its analysis should be based on the most recent statistical evidence. (2) Passive requires more “weak” words. It uses abstract words such as is /am /are /was /were /being /been/has/have/had, the specific article (le) and prepositions such as by and of. These are boring and colorless compared to concrete nouns, powerful verbs, and vivid adjectives. Good writers try to avoid these empty and weak words and replace them with strong words. .