ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

Verbs and Voice     

VOICE

•       is the form a verb takes to indicate whether the subject of the verb performs or receives the action.

There are two types of voice:  active voice and passive voice

ACTIVE VOICE

•   Active Voice – indicates that the subject of the verb is acting
•  Because the subject does or "acts upon" the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice

These examples show that the subject is  doing the verb's action.

·         The dog jumped onto the boy.

           The dog (subject) is doing the jumping (verb).

·         Kristy will give a book report to the class.

           Kristy (subject) is doing the giving (verb).

·         The computer printed my paper.

           The computer (subject) is doing the printing (verb).

PASSIVE VOICE

•        In a passive voice sentence, the subject and object flip-flop. The subject becomes the passive recipient of the action.
•        Because the subject is being "acted upon" (or is passive), such sentences are said to be in the passive voice.

These examples show the subject being acted upon by the verb.

·         The boy was jumped on by the dog.

§  Boy (subject)  was being jumped on (verb)

·         A book report will be given by Kristy to the class.

§  Report (subject) will be given (verb).

·         My paper was printed by the computer.     

§  Paper (subject) was being printed (verb).

REASONS FOR USING THE PASSIVE VOICE

·                Passive voice is used when the agent (doer of an action) is obvious, unknown, or unnecessary. 

·                Passive voice is used when the agent is known, but the speaker/writer does not want to mention it.

·                Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general such as people or somebody.

·                Passive voice is used when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize a result or emphasize the receiver of the action instead of the performer.

REASONS FOR USING ACTIVE VOICE

•    Most writers prefer to use active voice because it is more direct.
•    The active voice is less awkward and clearly states relationship between subject and action.
•   The active voice sentence pattern propels the reader forward through your writing thus avoiding weak prose.

We continue our lesson with learnt about body paragraph……

BODY PARAGRAPH

Ø  The body paragraphs in your essay support  the main idea in your thesis statement by breaking it down into smaller ideas subtopics.

Ø  Ideas in your paragraphs should relate back to the thesis statement

Ø  Most paragraphs contain between five to ten sentences.  The first line of a paragraph is usually indented (begin a few spaces to the right of the margin) to show that there is a new paragraph.

KEY FEATURES

Ø  Body paragraphs should should contain

Ø  some of the following features…

          A Topic Sentence

          Supporting Sentences

         A Concluding Sentence

          Unity

Ø  Every paragraph should have a topic sentence.  This is the most important sentence because it expresses the main idea of the paragraph.

Ø  A topic sentence contains the topic of the paragraph and a controlling idea.

Ø  The controlling idea limits the topic to something very specific.

Be Careful!

Make sure that your topic sentence does not contain too many controlling ideas.

Supporting Sentences

Definition

Ø  Every paragraph has sentences that relate to the ideas in the topic sentence.  These sentences are called supporting sentences. Look at the supporting sentences on the next  page to see how the writer provided more information on the subject in the topic sentence. 

Concluding Sentence

Definition and Purpose

Ø  A concluding sentence is the last sentence in a paragraph.  A conclusion can remind the reader of the main points of a paragraph and/or leave the reader with something to think about in relation to the topic.  Look at the next page to see how the writer used a concluding sentence

Ø  It is sometimes helpful to have a concluding expression in your last sentence to signal the end of your paragraph. Some common expressions used in concluding sentences are listed below. 

·               In summary

·               As a result

·               These examples show that

UnitY

Definition

Ø  Good paragraphs have unity.  That means that each sentence in the paragraph is related to the topic sentence.  Unified paragraphs also discuss only one main idea