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Making Verbs Work Passive versus Active Voice. Use strong verbs. Verbs provide the momentum of...
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Transcript of Making Verbs Work Passive versus Active Voice. Use strong verbs. Verbs provide the momentum of...
![Page 1: Making Verbs Work Passive versus Active Voice. Use strong verbs. Verbs provide the momentum of writing. Proper verb choice makes the difference between.](https://reader030.fdocuments.in/reader030/viewer/2022032702/56649cba5503460f949821b8/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Making Verbs Work
Passive versus Active Voice
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Use strong verbs.
• Verbs provide the momentum of writing.
• Proper verb choice makes the difference between crisp, clear writing and bloated, clumsy writing.
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What is the difference?
A sentence is in the active voice when the subject does the acting instead of being the recipient of the acting.
Active: Lowell depicts a grim view of marriage.
Passive: Marriage is depicted as grim by Lowell.
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What is the difference?
A verb that conveys action—as opposed to a verb that merely links the subject to a thought.
Active: Jim tossed the report away.
Linking: Jim was tired of the report.
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Active verbs
• just naturally go with writing that is in the active voice.
• When you put the subject front and center, doing something, you will probably find yourself using stronger, more interesting verbs.
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Active voice is generally stronger
•Both kinds of verbs are useful in writing. That’s why we have both.
•But, unless you’re a diplomat or bureaucrat or some other kind of weasel, you need to rely on the active voice more than the passive.
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Active Voice
• Uses direct action verbs
• Has a clearly defined actor and action
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Passive Voice
• Uses “to be” verb forms
• Emphasizes what was found, not who did the finding
• Can be pedantic and wordy in the hands of amateurs
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Which verb form to use
• Largely a matter of what you want to emphasize– Active Voice emphasizes an
action taken by a subject.– Passive Voice
• emphasizes what was found, the end result.
• hides who was responsible for the action.
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Replace wimpy verb phrases
Strong verbs• Determine
• Measure
• analyze
Weak verb phrases
• Make a determination
• Perform a measurement
• Carry out an analysis
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Transform into active voice
• Change nouns ending in –tion, -ment, and –ance back into verbs.
Indication indicateContamination contaminateMeasurement measureVariation vary
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Use “is” verbs sparingly
• Is beginning begins• Is used to detect detects
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When to use “is”
• If sentence defines or equates
Lowell’s poem is a sonnet.
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When not to use “is”
• In sentences that do not present a definition or equality
• To analyze
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Verb tenses
• Using active voice eliminates awkward tense shifts
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Parallel Construction
• Verbs must be in the same form
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Parallel vs. Non-parallel
faulty parallelism: She revels in chocolate, walking under the moonlight, and songs from the 1930s jazz period.
good parallelism: She revels in sweet chocolate eclairs, long moonlit walks, and classic jazz music.
good parallelism: She loves eating chocolate eclairs, taking moonlit walks, and singing classic jazz.
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Advantages of active voice:• Shorter, more direct • More forceful• Greater clarity (The
reader knows immediately who is doing what.)
• Sharper imagery
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Which is more effective?
• Stay away from the hot wire. It can kill you.
• The hot wire should be avoided. You can be killed by it.
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Should you ever use passive voice? Yes.
• Jon Franklin says that if you try to write entirely in the active voice, you are likely to produce something unreadable.
• He’s right. The active voice is great, but you can have too much of a good thing.
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Use passive voice
• When the actor is unknown or unimportant.
The knife was found beside the body.
• Or when you want to focus on the receiver of the action more than on the actor.
The teacher was fired for his political activism.
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Use passive voice
• When you want a gentler or more diplomatic approach.
A teenage girl was killed Tuesday by a gunshot wound that police said was self-inflicted.
• When you want to strengthen the impression of objectivity—as, for example, in a research report.
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Use passive voice
• When you want to achieve a particular effect—whether it be wry, sardonic, sarcastic or comedic.
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Good writers use both voices.• Use active voice whenever
possible. • You need to know when to
use one voice or the other, and when to use them together.
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Credits
• Celia M. Elliott, University of Illinois, [email protected]
• John Rains, Writing Coach, The Fayetteville Observer, [email protected]
• Dr. L. Kip Wheeler, Carson Newman College, http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/gram_parallelism.html
• Patricia Burgey, UWG