How can you tell if you have a passive sentence?
A sentence generally has three parts. There is the person or creature doing the action, the action itself and the verb. In a passive sentence, the subject is not the important part of the sentence, the action is.
If your sentence has:
is
are
am
was
were
being
has been
have been
had been
will be
will have been
followed by a 'past participle', you have a passive sentence.
Now, sometimes a passive sentence is what you want. Like I said above, if the action is what you want to emphasize, then a passive sentence is what you want. But if you are talking about your character, you want an active sentence. The easiest way to fix a passive sentence is to switch your wording around. I've found that excess words get dropped this way too.
Here are some simple examples:
ACTIVE: They speak English.
PASSIVE: English is spoken.
ACTIVE: They spoke English.
PASSIVE: English was spoken.
ACTIVE: They will speak English.
PASSIVE: English will be spoken.
ACTIVE: They are going to speak English.
PASSIVE: English is going to be spoken.
ACTIVE: They are speaking English.
PASSIVE: English is being spoken.
ACTIVE: They were speaking English.
PASSIVE: English was being spoken.
ACTIVE: They have spoken English.
PASSIVE: English has been spoken.
ACTIVE: They had spoken English.
PASSIVE: English had been spoken.
ACTIVE: They will have spoken English.
PASSIVE: English will have been spoken.
Here are some good reasons for using passive voice:
1. Passive voice is often used when the agent (the doer of an action; the subject of an active verb) is obvious, unknown, or unnecessary:
Oranges are grown in California.
Toyotas are made in Japan.
Her purse was stolen.
2. Passive voice is often used when the agent is known, but the speaker/writer doesn’t want to mention it:
She was given bad advice.
A mistake has been made.
3. Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general such as people or somebody.
English is spoken here.
The door should be locked.
4. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize a result:
Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake.
5. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to keep the same subject for two or more verbs but this would not be possible if both verbs were the same voice (active or passive).
For example, in a conversation about George, a speaker would probably use sentence 'a' below rather than sentence 'b' (both sentences are correct).
a. George had several interviews before he was hired by a software company.
b. George had several interviews before a software company hired him.
Most of this was taken from - http://faculty.deanza.edu/flemingjohn/stories/storyReader$22
A sentence generally has three parts. There is the person or creature doing the action, the action itself and the verb. In a passive sentence, the subject is not the important part of the sentence, the action is.
If your sentence has:
is
are
am
was
were
being
has been
have been
had been
will be
will have been
followed by a 'past participle', you have a passive sentence.
Now, sometimes a passive sentence is what you want. Like I said above, if the action is what you want to emphasize, then a passive sentence is what you want. But if you are talking about your character, you want an active sentence. The easiest way to fix a passive sentence is to switch your wording around. I've found that excess words get dropped this way too.
Here are some simple examples:
ACTIVE: They speak English.
PASSIVE: English is spoken.
ACTIVE: They spoke English.
PASSIVE: English was spoken.
ACTIVE: They will speak English.
PASSIVE: English will be spoken.
ACTIVE: They are going to speak English.
PASSIVE: English is going to be spoken.
ACTIVE: They are speaking English.
PASSIVE: English is being spoken.
ACTIVE: They were speaking English.
PASSIVE: English was being spoken.
ACTIVE: They have spoken English.
PASSIVE: English has been spoken.
ACTIVE: They had spoken English.
PASSIVE: English had been spoken.
ACTIVE: They will have spoken English.
PASSIVE: English will have been spoken.
Here are some good reasons for using passive voice:
1. Passive voice is often used when the agent (the doer of an action; the subject of an active verb) is obvious, unknown, or unnecessary:
Oranges are grown in California.
Toyotas are made in Japan.
Her purse was stolen.
2. Passive voice is often used when the agent is known, but the speaker/writer doesn’t want to mention it:
She was given bad advice.
A mistake has been made.
3. Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general such as people or somebody.
English is spoken here.
The door should be locked.
4. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize a result:
Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake.
5. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to keep the same subject for two or more verbs but this would not be possible if both verbs were the same voice (active or passive).
For example, in a conversation about George, a speaker would probably use sentence 'a' below rather than sentence 'b' (both sentences are correct).
a. George had several interviews before he was hired by a software company.
b. George had several interviews before a software company hired him.
Most of this was taken from - http://faculty.deanza.edu/flemingjohn/stories/storyReader$22
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