GUIDELINES TO NRDC feb 24 2014

Active VoiceIntroduction If you did nothing else with sentences except change them from passive to activevoice, you would see an immense improvement. Active voice makes sentencesshort, vigorous, and to the point.Definition:active voiceDefinition:passive voicePassive formA sentence written in the active voice shows the subject acting in standardEnglish sentence order: subject-verb-object. A sentence written in the activevoice shows the subject as the doer of the action.Example: George threw the ball.Passive voice shows the subject receiving the action, which changes standardsentence order. What was the subject of the sentence now becomes its object.Thus, a sentence written in the passive voice shows the object as the doer of theaction. The subject no longer acts but is acted upon.Example: The ball was thrown by George.A passive sentence may also omit the object (doer of the action) yet still contain acomplete thought. However, this makes a sentence vague, because it may omitkey information such as who, what, or why (perhaps intentionally).Examples:x The ball was thrown.x The report was lost.x No decision has been made.We also define passive voice by a sentence's verb forms. Most verbs changetheir form to distinguish between past and present. Passive voice contains verbsin these forms:x A form of the helping verb to be: The report was lost.x Plus a main verb forming a past participle: The report was lost.Examples of passive verb forms:Forms of helping verb to beambeisbeingwasbeenNote: Most past participles end in e, en, un, or t.Main verb as a past participlesaidcaughtledarisenbecomebegunNRDC GRC – Staff Handbook 7-5