{"id":1060,"date":"2015-03-05T21:59:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T21:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/technicalwriting1xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1060"},"modified":"2023-03-27T22:46:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T22:46:10","slug":"use-the-active-voice-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/chapter\/use-the-active-voice-2\/","title":{"raw":"Use the Active Voice","rendered":"Use the Active Voice"},"content":{"raw":"<h4>Why is it important to use the active voice?*<\/h4>\r\nWhen writers use the active voice, their words are direct; they use concrete verbs and clearly state the action being performed by the subject. In contrast, the passive voice is indirect; writers may use weak \u201cto be\u201d verbs (<em>is, am, was, were, being, been<\/em>) or present progressives (e. g., <em>is working, is laughing<\/em>), and the actor in the sentence is absent or disguised.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/WekIFyO5OLI?list=PLrj2iJKdUdbzmSkwVoc03-UBGwuIZUj7g\r\n<h4>How can passive writing be revised to make use of the active voice?<\/h4>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Find the subject of the sentence; the subject should be the one performing the action, not receiving the action.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Passive<\/strong>: He was questioned by me.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The subject of this sentence is <em>he<\/em>, and<em> he\u00a0<\/em>is being questioned. <em>He<\/em> is not performing an action but is receiving the action.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>This sentence can be revised to make the subject represent the person or thing that is performing the action.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Active<\/strong>: I questioned him.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The subject of the sentence is I, and is followed by a concrete action verb. The subject is doing the questioning instead of being questioned.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Check each sentence for passive voice; revise the sentence construction to make use of the active voice. This process is facilitated when \u201cto be\u201d verbs are eliminated and present progressives are replaced with action verbs when possible.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nhttp:\/\/youtu.be\/_koZ_3Wh87k\r\n<h4>\u00a0For additional resources on active voice, see also:<\/h4>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/use-active-voice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Use the Active Voice<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.saylor.org\/mod\/page\/view.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eliminate unnecessary \"to be\" verbs<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<h4>Why is it important to use the active voice?*<\/h4>\n<p>When writers use the active voice, their words are direct; they use concrete verbs and clearly state the action being performed by the subject. In contrast, the passive voice is indirect; writers may use weak \u201cto be\u201d verbs (<em>is, am, was, were, being, been<\/em>) or present progressives (e. g., <em>is working, is laughing<\/em>), and the actor in the sentence is absent or disguised.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Stolen on the Outback Express - The passive song\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WekIFyO5OLI?list=PLrj2iJKdUdbzmSkwVoc03-UBGwuIZUj7g\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>How can passive writing be revised to make use of the active voice?<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Find the subject of the sentence; the subject should be the one performing the action, not receiving the action.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Passive<\/strong>: He was questioned by me.\n<ul>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>The subject of this sentence is <em>he<\/em>, and<em> he\u00a0<\/em>is being questioned. <em>He<\/em> is not performing an action but is receiving the action.<\/li>\n<li>This sentence can be revised to make the subject represent the person or thing that is performing the action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Active<\/strong>: I questioned him.\n<ul>\n<li>The subject of the sentence is I, and is followed by a concrete action verb. The subject is doing the questioning instead of being questioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Check each sentence for passive voice; revise the sentence construction to make use of the active voice. This process is facilitated when \u201cto be\u201d verbs are eliminated and present progressives are replaced with action verbs when possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"active vs passive\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_koZ_3Wh87k?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>\u00a0For additional resources on active voice, see also:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/use-active-voice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Use the Active Voice<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.saylor.org\/mod\/page\/view.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eliminate unnecessary &#8220;to be&#8221; verbs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1060\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Use the Active Voice. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Writing Commons. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tcc.edu\/\">http:\/\/www.tcc.edu\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives <\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Stolen on the Outback Express - The passive song. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: University of Adelaide. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/WekIFyO5OLI?list=PLrj2iJKdUdbzmSkwVoc03-UBGwuIZUj7g\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/WekIFyO5OLI?list=PLrj2iJKdUdbzmSkwVoc03-UBGwuIZUj7g<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>All Rights Reserved<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><li>active vs passive. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Style Academy. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/_koZ_3Wh87k\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/_koZ_3Wh87k<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>All Rights Reserved<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":277,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Use the Active Voice\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Writing Commons\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.tcc.edu\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-nd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"Stolen on the Outback Express - The passive song\",\"author\":\"University of Adelaide\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/WekIFyO5OLI?list=PLrj2iJKdUdbzmSkwVoc03-UBGwuIZUj7g\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"arr\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"active vs passive\",\"author\":\"Style Academy\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/_koZ_3Wh87k\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"arr\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1060","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1332,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/277"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2055,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1060\/revisions\/2055"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1332"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1060\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-technicalwriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}