Ready...Set...Passive Voice!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Great work today on the passive voice. Remember, break down the sentence. Don't let the sentence be the master of you; you be the master of the sentence! Changing an active voice sentence into a passive voice sentence is a very hard task in English because you need to fully analyze the sentence in order to change the object into the agent.

Follow these handy dandy steps and tame the passive voice dragon!

Take your active voice sentence and:

1. Identify your verb. Write 'V' above it.
2. Identify the tense of the verb. Is it a) simple present, b) simple past, c) present perfect, or d) future (will)? Write the tense above the verb. (This is great work for you as you will know all of those pesky verb tenses in no time!)
3. Identify the subject of the sentence. Write 'S' above it. Now analyze the subject. Is it 'they' or 'somebody'? Ask yourself if it would add information to your passive voice sentence. If not, cross it out! (Don't worry, the subject will eventually forgive you. They are attention hogs but need to learn to share the spotlight with the objects once and awhile. It is nice to share after all!)
4. Identify the object. Write 'O' above it. Remember, the object becomes the agent of the passive voice subject. If you like, write 'O-A' next to it.
5. Switch-a-roo! Identify all of the phrases of the sentence. Move everything that has to do with the agent to the front of the sentence. Then the verb. Then anything left over that adds to the meaning of your sentence. If it is too vague, leave it out!
6. Now, re-write your sentence. Read over your work. Did you make any mistakes? (No, of course not because you are all passive voice experts after this lesson!)
7. Bask in the glory of having mastered the passive voice and congratulate yourself that all your perseverance paid off.

Practice Makes Perfect!

Active to Passive Transformations

More Passive Voice Exercises than you can shake a stick at! (What did I say?)

Homework for Friday, February 11, 2011

1. Writing Journal is due! If you are e-mailing it, put all your writing in ONE file. Send as a .pdf or .doc.
2. Unit 3 Lesson B Workbook: Turn in a hard copy of your answers.
3. Unit 3 Textbook: Adverbial clauses exercises. (I will update this later, I am away from my books at the moment!)
4. Study for passive voice quiz. Same format as the test from Monday.

~Happy Studying!~