Welcome to your L5 blog!
This week we're studying the passive voice. Here are some notes edited from the very helpful University of North Carolina Writing Center, follow the "passive voice" link in the Grammar Websites list on the right side of this page, or cut and paste:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/passivevoice
"Review: Defining the Passive Voice"
"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. Take a look at this passive rephrasing of a familiar joke:
Why was the road crossed by the chicken?
Who is doing the action in this sentence? The chicken is the one doing the action in this sentence, but the chicken is not in the spot where you would expect the grammatical subject to be. Instead, the road is the grammatical subject. The more familiar phrasing (why did the chicken cross the road?) puts the agent in the subject position, the position of doing something—the chicken (the agent/doer) crosses the road (the object). We use active verbs to represent that "doing," whether it be crossing roads, proposing ideas, making arguments, or invading houses (more on that shortly).
Once you know what to look for, passive constructions are easy to spot. Look for a form of "to be" (is, are, am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being) followed by a past participle. (The past participle is a form of the verb that typically, but not always, ends in "-ed." Some exceptions to the "-ed" rule are words like "paid" (not "payed") and "driven." (not "drived"). Here's a sure-fire formula for identifying the passive voice:
form of "to be" + past participle = passive voice
For example: The city has been burnt by the sun.
When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
NOTE: Forms of "be" are not always passive: "be" can be the main verb of a sentence that describes a state of being, rather than an action. For example, the sentence "John is a good student" is not passive; "is" is simply describing John's state of being. The moral of the story: don't assume that any time you see a form of "have" and a form of "to be" together, you are looking at a passive sentence. "I have to be on time for the concert," for example, is not passive. Ask yourself whether there is an action going on in the sentence and, if so, whether whoever or whatever is doing that action is the subject of the sentence. In a passive sentence, the object of the action (e.g., the road) will be in the subject position at the front of the sentence. There will be a form of be and a past participle. If the subject appears at all, it will usually be at the end of the sentence, often in a phrase that starts with "by" (e.g., "by the chicken").
Let's briefly look at how to change passive constructions into active ones. You can usually just switch the word order, making the agent and subject one by putting the agent up front:
PASSIVE:
The city has been burnt by the sun.
...becomes...
ACTIVE:
The sun burned the city.
PASSIVE:
When her house was invaded, Penelope had to delay her marriage.
...becomes...
ACTIVE:
After the robbers invaded her house, Penelope had to delay her marriage.
To repeat, the key to identifying the passive voice is to look for both a form of "to be" and a past participle, which usually, but not always, ends in "-ed."
Clarity and meaning
The primary reason why your instructors frown on the passive voice is that they often have to guess what you mean. Sometimes, the confusion is minor. For example:
When her house was invaded, Penelope had to delay her marriage.
Like many passive constructions, this sentence lacks explicit reference to the agent—it doesn't tell the reader who or what invaded Penelope's house. The active voice clarifies things:
After the robbers invaded her house, Penelope had to delay her marriage.
Thus many instructors—the readers making sense of your writing—prefer that you use the active voice. They want you to specify who or what is doing the action. Compare the following two examples from an anthropology paper on a Laotian village to see if you agree.
(passive) A new system of drug control laws was set up. (By whom?)
(active) The Lao People's Revolutionary Party set up a new system of drug control laws."
That should help. Be sure to check the links to the right of this page for more exercises.
See you in class!
Bonnie C.
