Download Passive Voice Power Point for Advanced Students

Grammar: Reporting Ideas
and Facts with Passives
NorthStar Unit 9
Active and Passive Sentences:
What’s the difference?
The meaning is different.
Active Sentences: The subject of the
sentence performs the action.
The student wrote the essay.
Passive Sentences: The subject receives
the action.
The essay is being written by the student.
Active and Passive Sentences:
What’s the difference?
They differ in directness.
Active Sentences: Direct
Their friends often take them to interesting
places.
Passive Sentences: Indirect
They are often taken to interesting places by
their friends.
Active and Passive Sentences:
What’s the difference?
Their lengths are different.
Active Sentences: More concise
The students considered topics for the next
essay. (8 words)
Passive Sentences: Wordier
Topics for the next essay are being considered
by the students. (11 words)
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The students devoured
the delicious candy.
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The students devoured
the delicious candy.
ACTIVE
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The chocolate was eaten
by the fifth period class.
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The chocolate was eaten
by the fifth period class.
PASSIVE
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The vocabulary quiz was taken
by the students on Friday.
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The vocabulary quiz was taken
by the students on Friday.
PASSIVE
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The students completed the
lab report on time.
Quiz Time!
Active or Passive?
The students completed the
lab report on time.
ACTIVE
Examine the following sentences
1. Many people say that music is an international
language.
2. Music is said to be an international language.
3. It is said that music is an international
language.
 Which sentences are in the active voice and which are
in the passive voice?
 In the second and third sentences, who says music is
an international language?
 Is there a difference in meaning among the three
sentences?
Why use the passive voice?
 To shift focus
 To report ideas and
facts
Using the passive to switch focus
 Using the passive voice shifts the reader’s focus
to the thing being done or the process being
described, rather than to the subject (the
person or thing doing the action).
 For this reason, in academic writing and
scientific description, the passive voice is
often used.
 However, if there is no specific reason to use the
passive, the active voice is preferred in
English.
Using the passive to switch focus
Examples:
Active: A craftsman dried and varnished
the wood for the cello.
Passive: The wood for the cello was dried
and varnished.
Using the passive to switch focus
Using the passive voice relieves the writer
of a certain amount of direct
responsibility for what is said. For this
reason, it is often used in reporting the
news when the source of the news is not
clear or cannot be told.
Using the passive to switch focus
Examples:
Active: An observer said that the soldiers
came from Sarajevo.
Passive: It was said that the soldiers
came from Sarajevo.
Reporting Ideas and Facts
 The passive voice creates a distance between
the writer and the idea being communicated.
 That impersonal distance is the reason why the
passive is preferred for reporting the ideas of
others.
 The writing is reporting on something without
adding his or her personal views, creating a
sense of objectivity and impartiality.
Reporting Ideas and Facts
Impersonal distance: Music is said to be
an international language.
Greater impersonal distance: It is said that
music is an international language.
Reporting Ideas and Facts
Grammar Tip: When you don’t need “by.”
 Because the writer is not interested in
identifying the specific agent responsible for
this statement, he or she uses the passive
voice without by or an agent.
 In this example, “music is said to be an
international language” has become a
universal truth, and it is not necessary to
identify the agent (“by many people,” or “by
great musicians,” or “by experts,” and so on).
Commonly Used Structures
Subject + passive form of the verb + to be
Music is said to be an international language.
(subject) (passive form of verb)
Musical compositions are said to be included in
(plural subject)
(passive form of verb)
the box found in the composer’s attic.
It + passive form of the verb + that
It is said that music is an international
(passive form of verb)
language.
Verbs Commonly Used
 Think
 Consider
 Regard
 Say
 Allege
 Believe
 Claim
 Know
 Suggest
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Many people say that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Active: Many people say that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
Passive: It is said that the arts are essential
parts of a child’s education.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: Many people say that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
Passive: It is said that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: Many people say that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
Passive: It is said that the arts are
essential parts of a child’s education.
The passive sentence is more effective in
the impersonal passive voice because the
agent (“many people”) is very vague.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
The government decided to give
money to the school creative arts program.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Active: The government decided to give
money to the school creative arts program.
Passive: It was decided to give money to the
school creative arts program.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: The government decided to give
money to the school creative arts program.
Passive: It was decided to give money to
the school creative arts program.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: The government decided to give
money to the school creative arts program.
Passive: It was decided to give money to
the school creative arts program.
This sentence is better in the active voice
because it expresses a specific fact and
not a general truth.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
The orchestra will have to dismiss many
musicians beginning next week.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Active: The orchestra will have to dismiss
many musicians beginning next week.
Passive: It is said that many musicians will
be dismissed beginning next week.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: The orchestra will have to dismiss
many musicians beginning next week.
Passive: It is said that many musicians will
be dismissed beginning next week.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
 Active: The orchestra will have to dismiss many
musicians beginning next week.
 Passive:It is said that many musicians will be
dismissed beginning next week.
This sentence is better in the impersonal passive
because this format distances the writer from
any direct responsibility and because there is no
official source for this statement.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Sigmund Freud, the father of
psychoanalysis, claimed that the
imagination is the link to our
innermost feelings.
Let’s practice!
 Change from active to passive:
Active: Sigmund Freud, the father of
psychoanalysis, claimed that the imagination is
the link to our innermost feelings.
Passive: It is claimed that the imagination is the
link to our innermost feelings. / Imagination is
believed to be the link to our innermost feelings.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
 Active: Sigmund Freud, the father of
psychoanalysis, claimed that the imagination is
the link to our innermost feelings.
 Passive: It is claimed that the imagination is the
link to our innermost feelings. / Imagination is
believed to be the link to our innermost feelings.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
 Active: Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis,
claimed that the imagination is the link to our innermost
feelings.
 Passive: It is claimed that the imagination is the link to
our innermost feelings. / Imagination is believed to be
the link to our innermost feelings.
This sentence is better in the active voice because it is a
belief attributed to a specific and very important person.
Putting the sentence in the passive is possible but
weakens its overall meaning by leaving out the agent.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Many teachers believe that an education
in the arts develops sensitivity.
Let’s practice!
Change from active to passive:
Active: Many teachers believe that an
education in the arts develops sensitivity.
Passive: It is believed that an education in
the arts develops sensitivity. / An
education in the arts is believed to develop
sensitivity.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
Active: Many teachers believe that an
education in the arts develops sensitivity.
Passive: It is believed that an education in
the arts develops sensitivity. / An
education in the arts is believed to develop
sensitivity.
Let’s practice!
Which sentence is more effective? Why?
 Active: Many teachers believe that an education
in the arts develops sensitivity.
 Passive: It is believed that an education in the
arts develops sensitivity. / An education in the
arts is believed to develop sensitivity.
This sentence can be in the impersonal passive
because it is not necessary to identify the agent.
This general thought could be a universal truth.
Next Steps
Complete Exercise 3 on page 220 for
more impersonal passive practice.
Homework: Find a newspaper article that
interests you, cut it out or print it off, and
bring it to class tomorrow.