Business Writing

Firefly Electric and Lighting Corp.Training and Organizational Development

Human Resources Department

Module 3

Business Writing

Firefly Electric and Lighting Corp.Training and Organizational Development

Human Resources Department

Module 3

Lesson 3b

Voices of Verbs

Module 3

Lesson 3b

Voices of Verbs

Two Voices of Transitive Verb

Voices of Verbs

Definition: Voice of verb is a grammatical term that indicates whether the subject is the doer/agent/ actor or the receiver/object of the action of the verb.

Voice is a property of Transitive verbs only.

Two voices of Transitive verbs:

1. Active Voice

2. Passive Voice

Voices of Verbs

Voices of Verbs• Active Voice indicates that in a sentence , the subject is the doer/agent/ actor of the action. The element that is acted upon is called the receiver or the object of the action (verb). This is the normal way of constructing sentences.Example:o Chito sees his mother coming.o He opens the door.

Voices of Verbso Mrs. Cruz is buying her daughter clothes.

o The manager sent the employees a memo on attendance.

o Yvonne has told her friends a humorous story.

* Please see notes on Table of Conversion of Voices of Verbs. The format of the voices vary with the different tenses of the verb.

Voices of Verbso Mrs. Cruz is buying her daughter clothes.

o The manager sent the employees a memo on attendance.

o Yvonne has told her friends a humorous story.

* Please see notes on Table of Conversion of Voices of Verbs. The format of the voices vary with the different tenses of the verb.

Voices of Verbs

In some cases, the doer of the action in the Passive Voice is omitted because:

• The doer is unknown.• The recipient is more important and

therefore emphasized.• There are several doers of the action.

The use of Passive voice should be avoided because:• It can create awkward sentences.• It causes sentences to appear flat and

uninteresting.

Voices of VerbsOther examples of Active Voice converted to

Passive Voice:

oClothes are being bought by Mrs. Cruz for her daughter. or

oHer daughter is being bought clothes by Mrs. Cruz.

oA memo on attendance was sent to the employees by the manager.

oThe employees were sent a memo on attendance by the manager.

Voices of Verbso A humorous story has been told to her

friends by Yvonne.

o Her friends have been told a humorous story by Yvonne.

The Passive Voice is generally used in scientific writings such as reports, researches, procedure because the procedures and results are more important than the ones doing them.

Voices of Verbs

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Voices of VerbsIdentify the following sentences as Active or Passive. Write Active or Passive in your notebook.

1. Melinda was invited to a party by her crush.

2. My friends were attending a journalism seminar.

3. Roger’s parents have toured Great Britain several times.

4. The artists have done the church decoration for the Feast of Immaculate Conception.

Voices of Verbs5. The Crown jewels were taken to the

bank for safekeeping.6. Meme is taking several courses this

summer.7. The borrowers were lent the money at

usurious interest rate.8. The news have been broadcast

nationwide by several television stations.9. These doilies are being made by my

aunt in Biñan.

Voices of Verbs

10. A famous couturier has sewn the wedding dresses of many movie personalities.

Voices of Verbs

If you got a score of 5 or less in the practice exercise, please review the notes on Voices of Verbs before taking the quiz.

Please look over the uploaded Powerpointnotes in Quia and check whether there are other facts you need to include in your Cheat Sheet.

Voices of VerbsIdentify the following verbs as Active or

Passive. Write Active or Passive in your notebook.

1. is built 6. were losing

2. have hurt 7. brought

3. will be paid 8. has drunk

4. is being spun 9. gives

5. has been bitten 10. will have been chosen

Voices of Verbs

If you got a score of 5 or less in the practice exercise, please review the notes on Voices of Verbs before taking the quiz.

Please look over the uploaded Powerpointnotes in Quia and check whether there are other facts you need to include in your Cheat Sheet.

Voices of VerbsIdentify the following sentences as Active or Passive. Write Active or Passive in your notebook.

1. Melinda was invited to a party by her crush. Passive

2. My friends were attending a journalism seminar. Active

3. Roger’s parents have toured Great Britain several times. Active

4. The artists have done the church decoration for the Feast of Immaculate Conception. Active

Voices of Verbs5. The Crown jewels were taken to the

bank for keeping. Passive6. Meme is taking several courses this

summer. Active7. The borrowers were lent the money at

usurious interest rate. Passive8. The news have been broadcast

nationwide by several television stations. Passive

Voices of Verbs9. These doilies are being made by my

aunt in Biñan. Passive10. A famous couturier has sewn the

wedding dresses of many movie personalities. Active

Voices of VerbsIdentify the following verbs as Active or

Passive. Write A or P in your notebook.

1. is built P 6. were losing A

2. have hurt A 7. brought A

3. will be paid P 8. has drunk A

4. is being spun P 9. gives A

5. has been bitten P 10. will have beenchosen P

Module 3, Lesson 3b: Voices of Verbs Quiz

1. Please proceed to www. Quia.com/web

2. On the space provided, enter your log in name and your password.

3. Under “Quiz”, please select Module 3, Lesson 3b, Quiz 1

4. Follow the instructions in the quiz.

5. Follow these same steps when you go to succeeding quizzes after every lesson.

End of Lesson