Active vs. passive voice
Determine whether the sentences below are in active or passive voice. If the
sentence is in passive voice, recast it in active voice.
1.
The case was dismissed by a three-judge panel after it was ruled that the statute of
limitations had expired.
2.
Adding an expensive new prescription is particularly challenging for those already
struggling with debt management issues.
3.
The second annual Financial Fitness Day will be held on Saturday, Aug. 31, by the
Seattle-King County Asset-Building Collaborative.
4.
People who attend Financial Fitness Day will be given help filing their tax returns,
printing free credit reports, opening bank accounts, creating household budgets,
developing plans to get out of debt, understanding their options to foreclosure,
applying for public benefits (food, utilities, child care, health insurance), and
shredding confidential documents. Volunteers will be on hand to assistance the
people who attend.
5.
Commerce and tourism were interrupted by the protests in Egypt, and have yet to
recover.
Action verbs vs. linking verbs
Rewrite these sentences using action verbs. Verbs that express action are preferable to
linking verbs (is, are, was, were) that simply link a subject to a noun or pronoun.
Whenever you start a sentence with there, you are forced to use a weak linking verb.
For example:
Weak: There were 13 students who marched in the parade.
Stronger action verb: Thirteen students marched in the parade.
1.
There was an increase in tuition last year in universities throughout the nation.
2.
There are rising costs for employee benefits that contributed to the increased
tuition.
3.
There is new legislation that would reduce interest rates on federally backed
student loans.
4.
There are many students who need to improve their grammar skills before they
can become good writers.
5.
There were 17 students who attended the lecture, but there were many others who
decided to stay home because of the inclement weather.
Run-on sentences
When two complete sentences are joined by a comma, they are called “run-on”
sentences or “comma splices.” Use a period or a semicolon if the two sentences are
very closely related in thought. A period is always a safe choice. You may also use
conjunctions such as and, but, or, for, nor preceded by a comma. Determine whether
these sentences are run-on sentences or are correct. Fix them if they are incorrect.
1.
You may pay your tuition with a credit card, it’s a new university policy.
2.
Many states are trying to pass legislation to make English the only permissible
language for government business, a policy that several Spanish-speaking
groups oppose.
3.
The election was highly contested, the candidates were glad when it was over.
4.
A fire during a Halloween dance was one of the deadliest fires in Sweden, at least
62 people were killed.
5.
More than 60 people were killed, 173 others were injured, when flames erupted in
the dance hall filled with teenagers.