The Passive Voice Essay Sample free essay sample

Introduction The English linguistic communication offers its talkers a assortment of agencies to show actions and emotions. In order to carry through this. the talker by and large must use verbs. Fortunately the linguistic communication offers a rich array of verbs from which to take. but larning all of the tenses. voices and abnormalities of these verbs can be disputing. On hard verb construct for pupils to maestro is that of the active and inactive voices. Basically. the English linguistic communication consists of two chief voices: the passive and the active voice. The active voice is by and large preferred in vivid authorship. while the inactive voice is reserved for more rare occasions. The term voice. harmonizing to Pollack. refers to the relationship between the topic and the verb in a sentence ( 163 ) . In active voice buildings. the topic of the sentence acts upon an object through an active voice verb. In inactive voice buildings the topic receives the action of the verb instead than moving on it. We will write a custom essay sample on The Passive Voice Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The rational of this paper is to analyse the inactive voice by presenting general utilizations of it. so discoursing the signifiers of it. and reasoning with the significance of the passive when used alternatively of the active voice. General Uses of the Passive Voice Passive voice is distinguished from active voice by the focal point. or intending. of the sentence. The active voice focal points on the topic. or who is making the action. The inactive voice focal points on the action itself – what happened? ( Pollack 164 ) . For illustration. a sentence reads as follows: The male child threw the ball. This sentence is in active voice because the male child. the topic. is the agent of action. the 1 that performs the action of the verb which is ‘to throw. ’ . The male child here is emphasized. as opposed to. state. the miss or the adult male. If the sentence were to be converted to inactive voice. it would read as follows: The ball was thrown by the male child. In this sentence the ball is the topic. but alternatively of being the agent of the action. the ball is the receiving system of the action. After all. the ball didn’t throw anything. Here. the focal point is on the fact that the ball was thrown instead than possibly kicked or rolled. The purpose of the author or talker. so. is of import in taking to utilize the inactive voice. How to Form the Passive Voice The inactive voice is formed by uniting some signifier of the verb ‘to be’ with a past participial. When organizing the present tense. the author would utilize am. is or are with the past participial ( ‘am formed’ . ‘is formed’ or ‘are formed’ ) . to organize the past tense. the author would utilize was or were plus the past participial ( ‘was formed’ or ‘were formed’ ) . Finally the hereafter passive is formed by utilizing the word will + be + the past participial. as in ‘will be formed’ . For illustration: Active voicePassive Voice The president forms a commission. The commission is formed by the president. The president formed a commission. The commission was formed by the president. The president will organize a commission. The commission will be formed by the president. A 2nd manner to organize the inactive voice is to utilize the verb ‘to get’ with the past participial. Harmonizing to Riggenbach and Samuda. this â€Å"get passive† is more informal than the â€Å"be passive† and frequently used more in conversation. The undermentioned illustrations show the difference: John’s Canis familiaris was scratched by his cat. John’s Canis familiaris got scratched by his cat. The 2nd sentence is more informal than the first. The writers go on to observe that the â€Å"get-passive† may frequently except the concluding prepositional phrase. Meaning of the Passive Voice and When a Writer Chooses to Use It. Other times. the author may deliberately utilize the inactive voice to avoid calling an agent of action. He may prefer to stay nonsubjective and let the reader to find the agent for himself. or he may merely non cognize who the agent is. For illustration. the undermentioned sentence can be interpreted both ways: The ball was thrown into the room. Harmonizing to the first account. the author may be purposefully keep backing the information in order to make suspense or coerce the reader to find the â€Å"thrower† for himself. Or. the individuality of the â€Å"thrower† may non be known at all. doing it impossible to make an active voice sentence without the usage of the vague capable â€Å"one† or â€Å"someone† ( Deakins. Perry and Viscount 235 ) . One common mistake in an wrong usage of the inactive voice is to merely utilize it when there is no demand. If for illustration. the author presents the undermentioned sentence: The ball was thrown by the male child. the concluding prepositional phrase. which Werner calls the by + agent phrase. tells the individuality of the throwster. In this instance. this sentence can easy be converted to active voice. It is by and large considered hapless manner to overdrive the inactive voice. so the author should maintain his usage of it merely to those grounds presented above. Some common inactive voice verbs include based. connected. covered. filled. formed. known. involved. located. made up or of. related. and used for and to. Wilson summarizes the five chief grounds to utilize the inactive voice: First. as discussed earlier. if the author wants to stress the receiving system of an action instead than the agent. he should utilize the active voice. For illustration. if the author wants to stress that the ball was thrown instead than a shoe. he might compose the undermentioned sentence: The ball was thrown into the crowd by the male child. To compose this in active voice would be to concentrate onwhothrew the ball. instead than on the ball itself. Second. the author may desire to take the accent off from the agent of action. This is known as atruncated inactive voicein which the agent of action is dropped from the sentence all together. The writer suggests utilizing the abbreviated inactive voice of the agent is unimportant or irrelevant as good. An illustration may be for the inactive voice sentence above. Its abbreviated inactive voice would be The ball was thrown into the crowd. Here. it is apparent that cipher truly knows who threw the ball into the crowd or that it doesn’t affair for the significance of the authorship. Third. as mentioned above. sometimes the writer does non desire to uncover the agent. This may happen for a assortment of grounds. including the desire to avoid duty or the desire to stay nonsubjective as an writer. Fourth. the usage of the inactive voice may be necessary to make smooth and unstable passages between sentences. Sometimes the active voice may make an awkward interruption in the flow of the sentence which consequences in a break of the flow of the piece of composing. Finally. and likewise. the writer may desire to keep a consistent point of position. and this may be managed merely by utilizing the inactive voice. Decision Great authors are able to develop their ain personal sense of manner. In making so. they must larn even the niceties of linguistic communication which include the usage of the active and inactive voice. Learning when and how to utilize this peculiar verb building is instrumental in taking any writer’s written look to the following degree. PASSIVE VOICE HANDOUT What is the inactive voice? The inactive voice is formed by utilizing a signifier of the verb ‘to be’ plus a past participial to demo an action. In this instance. the action is non performed BY the topic but UPON the topic. Examples Active: The male child bounced the ball. Passive voice: The ball was bounced by the male child. Trouble Musca volitanss when utilizing the inactive voice! You know you are overdriving the inactive voice when you find yourself adding a batch of â€Å"by† phrases. For illustration: The ball was bouncedby the male child The Meleagris gallopavo was eatenby the kids. Both of these sentences clearly give an action ( bounciness and eat ) and an agent of the action ( male child and kids ) . Therefore. they could both be written more compactly in the active voice. The male child bounced the ball. The kids ate the Meleagris gallopavo. Helpful Tips for utilizing the inactive voice! For illustration: The ball was bounced. (It doesn’t affair WHO bounced the ball or cipher truly knows WHO bounced the ball. ) For illustration: The ball was bounced. ( The BALL instead than the BEANBAG was bounced. ) For illustration: The ball was bounced. ( We don’t want to state who bounced the ball because it hurt person or because we want to maintain it a secret until the terminal of the story. ) For illustration: The ball was bounced. ( There can be many illustrations for this ; fundamentally. the flow of the words that come before and follow the sentence can assist you find if inactive voice is appropriate. ) SAMPLE EXERCISE ONE – REWRITE EACH ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCE INTO THE ACTIVE VOICE. SAMPLE EXERCISE TWO – TELL WHETHER EACH USE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE BELOW IS ACCEPTABLE OR NOT ACCEPTABLE. Rewrite THE NON-ACCEPTABLE USES INTO ACTIVE VOICE. Plants Cited Riggenbach. Heidi. and Virginia Samuda.Grammar Dimentions.Boston: Heinle A ; Heinle Publishers. 1993. Deakins. Alice H. . Kate Parry. and Robert R. Viscount.The Tapestry Grammar.Boston: Heinle A ; Heinle Publishers. 1994. Pollock. Carroll Washington.Communicate What You Mean. New jersey: Prentice Hall. Inc. . 1982. Werner. Patricia K. .A Content-Based Grammar. New york: The McGraw-Hill Companies. Inc. . 1996. Wilbers. Stephen. Sometimes the inactive voice is better than the active. Minneapolis Star Tribune: October 27. 1995