Web7/09/ · Passive voice occurs when the subject of a sentence is acted upon instead of acting itself. We’ll cover more examples later, but just in case you need to see one to WebRead the Passive Voice reading and complete the worksheet (typed), and BRING A PRINTED COPY INTO CLASS. 1. Provide original example sentences to illustrate the Web27/04/ · What is Passive Voice in Essay Writing The passive voice, in a sentence, is used to emphasize the action taken place by the subject according to the verb. In this,
Passive Voice: When to Use It and When to Avoid It | Writing Advice
This handout will help you understand what the passive voice is, why many professors and writing instructors frown upon it, and how you can revise your paper to achieve greater clarity. Some things here may surprise you, passive essay. We hope this handout will help you to understand the passive voice and allow you to make more informed choices as you write. So what is the passive voice? Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical passive essay. The passive voice entails more than just using a being verb.
On the contrary, you can very easily passive essay the passive voice in the first person. While the passive voice can weaken the clarity of your writing, passive essay, there are times when the passive voice is OK and even preferable. See Myth 1. Typically, grammar checkers catch only a fraction of passive voice usage. Do any of these misunderstandings sound familiar? A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence.
Take a look at this passive rephrasing of a familiar joke:. Who is doing the action in this sentence? The chicken is the one doing the action in this sentence, but the chicken is not in the spot where you would expect the grammatical subject to be. Instead, the road is the grammatical subject. The more familiar phrasing why did the chicken cross the road? Once you know what to look for, passive constructions are easy to spot. When her house was invaded, passive essay, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage, passive essay. Need more help deciding whether a sentence is passive? Ask yourself whether there is an action going on in the sentence, passive essay. If so, what is at the front passive essay the sentence?
Is it the person or thing that does the action? Or is it the person or thing that passive essay the action done to it? In a passive sentence, the object of the action will be in the subject position at the front of the sentence. As discussed above, the sentence will also contain a form of be and a past participle. This sentence is passive. You can usually just switch the word order, making the actor and subject one by putting the actor up front:. The dragon has scorched the metropolis with his fiery breath, passive essay. After suitors invaded her house, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage. The primary passive essay why your instructors frown on the passive voice is that they often have to guess what you mean. Sometimes, passive essay, the confusion is minor.
The active voice clarifies things:. Thus many instructors—the readers making sense of your writing—prefer that you use the active voice, passive essay. They want you to specify who or what is doing the action. Compare the following two examples from an anthropology paper on passive essay Laotian village to see if you agree. passive A new system of drug control laws was set up. By whom? Gender training was conducted in six villages, thus affecting social relationships. In both paragraphs, the writer never specifies the actors for those two actions Who did the gender training?
Who established marketing links? Thus the reader has trouble appreciating the dynamics of these social interactions, which depend upon the actors conducting and establishing these things. The following passive essay, once again from that paper on The Odyssey, typifies another instance where an instructor might desire more precision and clarity:. Although Penelope shares heroic characteristics with her husband, Odysseus, she is not considered a hero. Who does not consider Penelope a hero? The passive essay might also conceivably think that the student is referring to critics, scholars, passive essay, or modern readers of The Odyssey. One might argue that the meaning comes through here—the problem is merely stylistic.
Yet style affects how your reader understands your argument and content. Awkward or unclear style prevents your reader from appreciating the ideas that are so clear to you when you write. Thus knowing how your reader might react enables you to make more effective choices when you revise. So after you identify instances of the passive, you should consider whether your use of the passive inhibits clear understanding of what you mean. With the previous section in mind, you should also know that passive essay instructors proclaim that the passive voice signals sloppy, lazy thinking. These instructors argue that writers who overuse the passive voice have not fully thought through what they are discussing and passive essay this makes for imprecise arguments.
Consider these sentences from papers on American history:. The working class was marginalized. African Americans were discriminated against. Women were not treated as equals. Such sentences lack the precision and connection to context and causes that mark rigorous thinking, passive essay. It is especially important to be sure that your thesis statement is clear and precise, so think twice before using the passive voice in your thesis. In papers where you discuss the work of an author—e. Instead of writing:. It is argued that… or Tom and Huck are portrayed as… or And then the link between X and Y is made, showing that…, passive essay. you can heighten the level of your analysis passive essay explicitly connecting an author with these statements:, passive essay.
Anderson argues that… Twain portrays Tom and Huck as… Ishiguro draws a link between X and Y to show that…. By avoiding passive constructions in these situations, you can demonstrate a more thorough understanding of the material you discuss. All this advice works for papers in the humanities, you might note—but what about technical or scientific papers, passive essay, including lab reports? Many instructors recommend or even require the passive voice in such writing. Although more and passive essay scientific journals accept or even prefer first-person active voice e. While you might employ the passive voice to retain objectivity, you can still use active constructions in some instances and retain your objective stance.
Examples include: support, indicate, suggest, passive essay, correspond, challenge, yield, show. These results indicate a number of things. In some assignments, rather than reporting the results of your own scientific work, you will be writing about the work of other scientists. Such assignments might include literature reviews and research reports on scientific topics. Often the two go together. passive Heart disease is considered the leading cause of death in the United States, passive essay. or active Research points to heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States.
Researchers have concluded that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The last two sentences illustrate a relationship that the first one lacks, passive essay. The first example does not tell who or what passive essay us to accept this conclusion about heart disease. Which sounds better to you? The balloon is positioned in an area of blockage and is inflated. or The surgeon positions the balloon in an area of blockage and inflates it. You can improve your scientific writing by relying less on the passive.
The key is to know when your instructor wants you to use the passive voice. For a more general discussion of writing in the sciencessee our handout. Before we discuss a few instances when the passive might be preferable, we should mention one of the more political uses of the passive: to hide blame or obscure responsibility. For example:, passive essay. The Exxon Company accepts that a few gallons might have been spilled. By becoming critically aware of how others use language to shape clarity and meaning, you can learn how better to revise your own work, passive essay. Sometimes the passive voice is the best choice.
Here are a few instances when the passive voice is quite useful:. This passive sentence emphasizes the number of votes required. Passive essay different contaminants have been dumped into the river. Yet consider the third case. Here are two examples:. and active Dr. Susan Jones delivered baby Sophia at a. The first sentence might be more appropriate in a birth announcement sent to family and friends—they are not likely to know Dr.
IELTS Task 1 Academic Writing (Passive voice in process essays)
, time: 9:03Passive Voice Examples and How to Make Them Active
WebThe passive voice isn’t wrong, but it's not always blogger.com’s pretty common to use the passive voice in scientific writing or in situations where you don't know who performed a WebPassive Voice: Returned merchandise is accepted only when a sales receipt is provided. (by taking the people out - we & you – the focus switches to the things – merchandise & Web27/04/ · What is Passive Voice in Essay Writing The passive voice, in a sentence, is used to emphasize the action taken place by the subject according to the verb. In this,
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