Revising for Active Voice

University of Scranton Writing Center

Verb◦ The action.

Subject◦ The actor.

Object◦ The action’s recipient.

Voice◦ Relationship between the three.

Grammatical Terms

Passive Voice◦ Subject and object have swapped roles.◦ “We were told to leave by the supervisor.”

Active Voice◦ Subject and object properly placed.◦ “The supervisor told us to leave.”

Active vs. Passive Voice

Symptoms◦ “To be” Verbs:

Am Is Are Was Were Be, Being, Been

Identifying Passive Voice

Identify the sentence’s active verb.◦ What action is performed?

Identify the sentence’s subject.◦ Who performs this action?

Identify the sentence’s object.◦ Who receives this action?

Place the subject before and the object after the verb.

Revising for Active Voice

Students are given exams by faculty members.

Revising Practice

Does the sentence exhibit passive voice? What is the sentence’s active verb? Who performs this action? Who receives this action? Can we rewrite the sentence by placing the subject (faculty members) before and the object (students) after the active verb (give)?

Faculty members give students exams.

In laboratories, chemicals are researched by scientists.

Revising Practice

Does the sentence exhibit passive voice? What is the sentence’s active verb? Who performs this action? Who receives this action? Can we rewrite the sentence by placing the subject (scientists) before and the object (chemicals) after the active verb (research)?

In laboratories, scientists research chemicals.

Gregor was portrayed by Kafka as an isolated insect.

Kafka portrayed Gregor as an isolated insect.

Revising Practice

Presently, more books are being read by students during the summer than ever before.

Presently, students read more books during the summer than ever before.

Revising Practice

We were travelling through Europe for an entire month.

We travelled through Europe for an entire month.

Revising Practice

Identify the sentence’s active verb.◦ What action is performed?

Identify the sentence’s subject.◦ Who performs this action?

Identify the sentence’s object.◦ Who receives this action?

Conclusion