ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE
PRECISE VERBS

 

We have two voices of the English language: active and passive. In an active voice construction, we have a subject (an agent or actor) performing an action (this clause is active); in a passive voice construction, the subject is acted upon (this clause is passive).

Passive voice constructions usually obscure the subject, thus making the sentences loose, indirect, and wordy.

 

Active: John hit the ball into left field.

Passive: The ball was hit by John into left field.

 

Clearly, the subject John (the actor/agent) performs an action; he hits the ball (the direct object). In the passive voice, the direct object, ball, becomes the subject of the sentence; the ball is being acted upon (hit) by John.

How can you recognize passive voice construction? The passive construction usually has an obvious to be verb form (am, is, was, were, been, being, etc.) plus a past participle; these verbs are frequently followed by the preposition by. Notice the example of passive voice in the preceding sentence. In active voice, the sentence would read:

More times than not, the preposition by follows the past participle.

Notice, too, that the sentence mixes construction to illustrate that you should avoid mixing passive and active voice constructions in the same sentence. If you think in terms of what or who is doing the action and use the result as your subject (agent/actor), constructing active voice will become as natural as breathing.

When is passive voice useful? When you deliberately want to obscure the subject (the actor or agent). Pretend for a moment that you break a family heirloom. Passive voice allows you to offer the following explanation to its owner: Your favorite rose vase was broken last night. Or, to take another rhetorically popular defense, we might hear "mistakes were made" from some politicians. Unless you can defend the use of passive voice, however, use active instead.

PRECISE VERBS AND QUOTATIONS

You can use a variety of useful words to introduce quotations; they will help you to avoid repetitive constructions such as "Newman says" (or "states"), "This shows that," or, worse still, "This can be seen in." More than variety, the following verbs provide exactness of thought!

Always offer a rationale for your inclusion of a quotation, either before or after its use. In other words, do not "drop in" like an unwelcome guest a quotation for no apparent relevance to the point you're making. The following brief quotations, not all of which are fully introduced, illustrate the variety of introductory methods that can elevate your presentation of excerpted material.

 

Joseph Stalin coldly lectured that `a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths a statistic.'

Elizabeth Newman argues that Cooper's style is `perfectly acceptable' if we remember that he wrote the passage a century ago.

She repudiates his style in terse terms: `Although Cooper may argue his point of view, he does so without conviction.'

Even though the protagonist `has a notion to strike out at her friend,' she lacks the courage to confront Emily: `Jeannette awoke each day with fantasies of packing a bag and heading for the airport.'

A noted scholar disputes the current trends to classify Medea as an archetypal Fury. After all, he underscores, women are `sympathetic victims who have always had to avenge the abuses of fidelity.'

Parenthetical documentation will, of course, alter your punctuation.