ACTIVE & PASSIVE VOICE

Active & Passive voice

Sentences can be written or spoken in the active or passive voice.

E.G : Active : James reads books.

Passive
Active Passive Active Passive

: Books are read by James.

: Mary told a story. : A story was told by Mary. : They are eating hamburgers. : Hamburgers are being eaten by them.

Active voice

In most English sentences with an action verb, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb.

E.g : (James) (reads) (books). S V O (They) (are eating) (hamburgers). S V O

Because the subject does the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice.

Active voice

It is generally preferable to use the ACTIVE voice. Writers should usually use the active voice rather than the passive.

Its considered to be a more powerful and

straightforward form of expression.

The active voice also uses less words to convey the same message.

Passive voice

is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

E.G : (Books) (are read) by (James).

S V O (Hamburgers) (are being eaten) by (them).

Because the subject is being "acted upon" (or is passive), such sentences are said to be in the passive voice.

Passive voice
The passive voice may be a better choice when :

the subject of the action is unknown, unwanted, or unneeded in the sentence :

E.G : The ballots have been counted. Sometimes our efforts are not fully appreciated.

the writer wishes to emphasize the action of the sentence rather than the subject of the action :

E.G : The high jump record was finally broken on last Sunday. A suspect was questioned for 16 hours by the police.

the writer wishes to use passive voice for sentence variety

Passive voice
When the passive voice is used :

the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle). the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped).

Active & Passive Voice

If the active voice is in the present tense, the passive voice must be in present tense too.

If the active voice is in the past tense, the passive voice must be in past tense too.

In short, the tense must be the same in the passive voice as in the active voice.

Look at the following sentences : He speaks well. They come here ever day. No object

She ran out.

The verbs are intransitive verbs (verb that does not have an

object).

Therefore, the above sentences cannot be changed into the passive voice.

Reminders for next week

Grammar Quiz 2 (SVA and Tenses) 15% Group work: Organize Reading Files Reading Files updates
Theme
Task:

1: Education
Find 30 words and meaning and synonyms

Theme
Task:

2: Technology

Find 15 sentences. Determine subject and verbs.

Writing Assignment is due on 16/10/09 (Friday)