Voice: Active & Passive

~Tamara ZamanUniversity of Utah Writing Center

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Content of this presentation

Whether you are reading this guide to complete a grammar exercise, are reviewing your term paper, or are reading this just for fun, here’s what you can expect:

▪ A review of active voice▪ A review of passive voice▪ When to use active voice ▪ When to use passive voice▪ Test your knowledge!!

Back to the basics

Before we begin defining and identifying voice, let’s take a quick refresher in sentence structures.

▪ In English, word order in a sentence is dictated by the SVO rule:

Subject + Verb + Object (S) + (V) + (O)

▪ The verb is the action word in the sentence. More often than not, the subject is the noun/noun phrase/pronoun in front of the verb, and the rest of the sentence after the verb is the object.

Let us look at a couple of examples.

Sample sentences

▪

▪

▪

▪

Verb

Subject

Objectrises

The Sun in the east.

Verb

Subject

ObjectforgotJohn to pack his

lunch.

Verb

Subject

Objectwas caught

The thief

red-handed.

Verb

Subject

ObjectrentedHermion

ea movie on Saturday, but didn’t have time to watch it.

A review of active voice

Now that we have a good understanding of subjects and objects and verbs, we are ready to dive into active voice.

▪ When the doer of the action (the person/thing really DOING the action) is the subject of the sentence, the sentence is in active voice.

▪

– This sentence is in active voice.

Is the subject, “the dog”, performing the

action? Is the dog barking?

VerbSubject

ObjectbarkedThe dog at the cab driver

More examples of active voice

▪ The children opened their Christmas presents with great excitement.

▪ I watched the news this morning.▪ Edward planted a seedling in his backyard.▪ The police secured the crime scene. ▪ We rode our horses into the sunset.

In all of these examples, the subject is directly completing the action described by the verb.

Some more examples

Consider the following sentences:

▪ The cat was chased by the dog.▪ Dinner was prepared by my mother.▪ Romeo was hit by a snowball on his way to work.▪ Students will be penalized for turning in their papers late.

In each of these examples, the subject is NOT the doer of the action; instead, the subject is the receiver of the action. These sentences are in passive voice.

Are these subjects the doers of the action?Is the cat chasing?

Is the dinner preparing?Is Romeo hitting?Are the students

penalizing?

A review of passive voice

▪ If the subject of the sentence is affected by the action (the verb), or is on the receiving end, then the sentence is in passive voice.

▪

– Here, students (the subject) are affected by the penalty. This is a passive sentence.

▪

– Here, the posters are the receivers of the action “putting up”. This is also a passive sentence.

VerbSubject

Objectwill be penalizedStudent

sfor turning their papers late.

VerbSubject

Objecthave been put upThe posters around campus

One idea, two voices

Both active voice and passive voice can express the same idea. Which one you choose depends on what your purpose is. Are you trying to make an accusation (like in the active sentence)? Or are you reporting the stealing of a cookie (like in the passive sentence)?

When to use active voice

▪ Active voice is recommended for most forms of writing.

▪ It is direct, straightforward, more natural, succinct and emphatic. For instance, consider the difference between:▪ The door is to be shut by you. (Passive voice)▪ Shut the door. (Active voice)

▪ Or,▪ The wall was crashed into by the drowsy truck driver. (Passive

voice)▪ The drowsy truck driver crashed into the wall. (Active voice)

Can you tell the difference in emphasis between the two forms?

When to use passive voice

▪ Passive voice is common in scientific or technical writing:▪ The test tubes must be rinsed after each use.

▪ Passive voice is used to highlight the receiver of the action:▪ My leg was bitten by the snake.

▪ Passive voice is used when the doer/ actor is unknown or unimportant:▪ This story was first told many, many years ago.▪ All the reports were submitted on time.▪ The best cheese in the world is made in Canada, and is

called Lankaaster.

Test your knowledge!!

▪ Tom did not fall for Jerry’s mean trick. ________________▪ Many factors were taken into account. ________________▪ His hair was cut by a professional. ________________▪ She already bought her dress for prom. ________________▪ Portia refused to go to the dentist. ________________▪ The mother read a bedtime story to her baby.

________________▪ DiCaprio won an Oscar for his performance in “The Wolf

of Wall Street”. ________________

ActivePassive

PassiveActive

ActiveActive

Active

Congratulations on making it to the end!

It is hoped you have enjoyed

and/or found this guide useful ;)