Friday, April 10, 2009

Grammar Blitz: Using the Passive

Passive tone of writing is used to focus on the action itself, or the object affected by the action, rather than the 'subject' or the 'doer' of the action.



For instance:

The student threw the book - Active
The book was thrown by the student - Passive



The newspaper revealed the truth - Active
The truth was revealed by the newspaper - Passive



More examples:

Water covers the greatest parts of the Earth's surface - Passive
The greatest parts of the Earth's surface is covered by water - Active



The major impact made by human beings on living marine resources has occured in the last 100 years - Passive
Human beings made a major impact ... ... - Active



Ships in the open sea discharge oil with impunity - Active
Oil with impunity was discharged by ships in the open sea - Passive



The helicopter pilots had located the whale - Active
The whale was located by the helicopter pilots - Passive



The fight for survival is a drama played out everyday - Passive
The drama played out everyday is a fight for survival - Active


All creatures, human and animal alike, face the same adversary - Active
The same adversary is faced by all creatures, human and animals alike - Passive

We often lost sight of our objective as we plunged up and down the sand hills - Active
Our obective was often lost sight of ... ... - Passive



Trees must surely indicate the presence of water - Active
The presence of water is indicated by the trees - Passive



Modern inventions have speeded up people's lives amazingly - Active
People's live have speed up amazing by modern inventions - Passive

Mobile phones enable us to log on to news, even from mountain top - Passive
We are able to log on to news through mobile phones, even from mountain top - Active

No comments:

Post a Comment