Reasons to Avoid Passive Voice
Sometimes the use of passive voice can create awkward sentences.
Also, overuse of passive voice throughout an essay can cause your
prose to seem flat and uninteresting.
In scientific writing, however, passive voice is more readily accepted
since using it allows one to write without using personal pronouns or
the names of particular researchers as the subjects of sentences.
When a verb is in the active voice, the subject of the
sentence is also the doer of the action.

Active verbs move the action and reveal the actors.
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.
Active:
I crashed the car.

Passive:
The car was crashed.
Passive verbs emphasize the receiver, the victim.
To know if a sentence is active or passive:
Verb
Locate the __________________
or who is performing the action?
Locate What,
__________
If the person performing the action is
In front of
________________
the verb.
Active
The Sentence is __________________
1. Kelly ate the jelly donut.
ate
Verb: ______________
Kelly
Who did the eating? ____________________
before
Kelly is ___________________
ate.
active
Sentence is __________________________
2. The test was taken by the Sophomore class.
was taken
Verb: ___________________
The Sophomore class
Who took the test? ______________________
after
Sophomore class is _________________
taken.
passive
Sentence is __________________________
AV
Uncle Lou met our plane. ____
I was taught to play the piano
PV
by my aunt. ________________
The ambulance has been
called. ____________________
PV
Directions: Distinguishing Between the Active and Passive
Voice: After each sentence, write active of passive to
describe the verb.
1) Sprinter Evelyn Ashford took home two gold medals from
AV
the 1984 Olympics. _______________________________
2) The cucumbers and the tomatoes will be planted by next
PV
week. _______________________________
3) The artwork of painter Pop Chalee reflects the traditions of
AV
the Pueblo people. _______________________________
4) The roof of Aunt Vicki’s house has been badly damaged
PV
by the high winds. _______________________________
5) The children’s sculptures have been displayed in a case at
PV
the public library. _______________________________
6) Many bird books from the early 1900s are graced by the
illustrations of Louis Fuentes.
AV
_______________________________
7) In the attic Dad found an old letter from his great uncle.
AV
_______________________________
8) Kaya and Sabrina have been working on their science
PV
project for three weeks. _______________________________
9)Large donations were sent by several anonymous
PV
individuals. _______________________________
10) Snapping turtles defend themselves with their strong,
AV
sharp jaws. _______________________________
11)Sometimes our efforts are not fully appreciated.
AV
_______________________________
12)The man must have eaten 10 hot dogs in one sitting!
PV
_______________________________
13)The ballots were counted as the candidates watched
anxiously.
PV
_______________________________
14) The high jump record was finally beaten last Saturday.
_______________________________
PV
Rewrite the following passage changing the voice from
passive to active where appropriate.
The room was entered by Dr.
Wheeler, at which point words of
advice regarding active verbs were
spoken by him.
It was decided by the rebellious class
that the final paper of the semester
would be written entirely in passive
voice.
Remarks were made by a distraught
Wheeler; protests were made by the
students.
When Dr. Wheeler entered the
room, he gave advice about
using active verbs.
The rebellious class decided to
use active voice for the
entirety of the final semester
paper.
A distraught Mr. Wheeler made
remarks; Students made
protests.
PV
PV
AV
AV
PV
Write a passive sentence about a character from the last book we read.
Write an active sentence about a character from the last movie you saw.
PV
AV
PV
AV
PV
PV
AV
AV
PV
AV
AV
PV
AV
PV
AV
AV
PV
AV
AV
PV
AV
PV
AV
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/passivevoice/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/539/
staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/sriddle/.../WRRs/2009.../WRR10%
20Packet.pdf
staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/bjones/WRR10-packet.doc
web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Passive_Bloodshe
d.pdf
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