Factbites
 Where results make sense
About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   PR   |   Contact us  

Topic: Active voice


Related Topics

In the News (Sun 27 May 12)

  
  uw-madison writing center writer's handbook
At the heart of every good sentence is a strong, precise verb; the converse is true as well--at the core of most confusing, awkward, or wordy sentences lies a weak verb.
Active voice: Subject of sentence does the action.
Rewrite the sentence so that the subject buried in the "by" clause is closer to the beginning of the sentence.
www.wisc.edu /writing/Handbook/CCS_activevoice.html   (296 words)

  
 Passive and Active Voice
The voice of the verb shows whether the grammatical subject performs the action or is acted upon.
Notice that the active voice sentence places the “doer” of the action in the grammatical subject slot and the “receiver” of the action (that which is being acted upon) is placed in the object slot.
In the passive voice sentence, the “doer” of the sentence, John, is placed in the object slot by using by.
www.uwf.edu /writelab/handouts/passiveactive.cfm   (607 words)

  
 1.3f - Voice
The "voice" of a verb has to do with whether or not the subject of a sentence acts upon something else (as agent) or whether the subject is acted upon (by an agent).
Active voice, however, foregrounds the real agent of the action, provides force and clarity in one's statements, and avoids wordiness in sentence constructions.
Active voice is performative; passive is static, even though action and agency seem to exist in the sentence.
www.ucalgary.ca /UofC/eduweb/grammar/course/speech/1_3f.htm   (757 words)

  
 Grammar Gaffes and Faux Pas: Writing in the Active Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Generally, sentences written in the active voice are easier to understand because the subject of the verb performs the action or causes the action denoted by the verb.
We use the passive voice when the focus of the sentence is on the object instead of the subject or when the subject of the sentence is general or unknown to the writer.
In this case, passive voice makes sense if the agent performing the action is obvious, unimportant, or unknown or if the writer wants to postpone mentioning the agent until the last part of the sentence or wants to avoid mentioning the agent at all.
www.ext.colostate.edu /pubs/octnews/oc021003.html   (873 words)

  
 Think Active!
A big, deep voice echoes off the walls of the lecture hall: "The passive voice is DEATH to persuasive writing!" Nobody in the room makes a sound.
It is a verb construction that shifts the focus of a sentence away from the doer.
One of the greatest attributes of the Active Voice is that it embraces the individual.
www.grokdotcom.com /thinkactive.htm   (537 words)

  
 Active / Passive Voice
The active voice is less awkward and clearly states relationship between subject and action.
In active voice sentences, the verb expresses the action in the sentence, the subject performs the action, and the object is the recipient of the action.
The passive voice requires a "double verb" and will always consist of a form of the verb "to be" and the past participle (usually the "en/ed/t" form) of another verb.
www.uark.edu /campus-resources/qwrtcntr/resources/handouts/activepassive.htm   (1341 words)

  
 OWL at Purdue University: Printable Handouts:Active and Passive Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Sentences in active voice are also more concise than those in passive voice because fewer words are required to express action in active voice than in passive.
If you want to change a passive-voice sentence to active voice, find the agent in a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb.
Passive voice makes sense when the agent performing the action is obvious, unimportant, or unknown or when a writer wishes to postpone mentioning the agent until the last part of the sentence or to avoid mentioning the agent at all.
owl.english.purdue.edu /handouts/print/grammar/g_actpass.html   (919 words)

  
 Composition. Strunk, William, Jr. 1918. Elements of Style   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Repetition, in paraphrase, of the quotation from Hazlitt.
Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there is, or could be heard.
As positive statement is more concise than negative, and the active voice more concise than the passive, many of the examples given under Rules 11 and 12 illustrate this rule as well.
www.bartleby.com /141/strunk5.html   (4130 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Active voice verbs stress the doer, whereas passive voice verbs stress who or what receives the action or has the action done to it.
When writing in the passive voice, your reader becomes a detective and must hunt for the performer of the action.
In addition, the passive voice, by its construction, is more wordy than the active voice.
www.ecsu.edu /ECSU/AcadDept/llc/WritingLab/style2.html   (643 words)

  
 Practice Using Active Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Active voice emphasizes the doer, the agent of the activity:
The passive voice shifts the focus of a sentence away from the doer.
Writing it in the active voice: We design a hydraulic system that is both tough and intelligent, and responds to the slightest operator command.
www.grokdotcom.com /active-voice.htm   (554 words)

  
 PRESS RELEASE Active Voice Provides Unified Messaging to Largest Health Authority in British Columbia   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Active Voice's Kinesis* unified messaging solution will enhance the performance of Fraser Health's existing communications infrastructure, helping the organization streamline its operations and provide optimum patient care.
Active Voice, LLC, a subsidiary of NEC Unified Solutions, Inc., is a global provider of unified messaging, computer telephony and voice messaging solutions, powering the communications infrastructure of businesses worldwide.
Active Voice's products are sold and supported through a network of independent telecommunications manufacturers, dealers, computer resellers, and strategic partners.
www.marketwire.com /mw/release_html_b1?release_id=91162   (749 words)

  
 UNC Writing Center Handout | Passive Voice
Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error.
While the passive voice can weaken the clarity of your writing, there are times when the passive voice is OK and even preferable.
Although more and more scientific journals accept first-person active voice (e.g., "then we sequenced the human genome"), many of your instructors want you to remove yourself from your lab report by using the passive voice (e.g., "then the human genome was sequenced").
www.unc.edu /depts/wcweb/handouts/passivevoice.html   (2395 words)

  
 Active/Passive Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Basically, active voice focuses attention on the subject or doer of the action, while passive voice focuses attention on the receiver of the action.
When to use active or passive voice is not an easy question because the answer depends on style guide, purpose, and audience.
Some use active voice in different sections, such as introduction, methodology, and discussion, but use passive in the abstract, findings, and conclusions sections.
www.d.umn.edu /~dmorriso/readablewriting/ActivePassiveVoice   (290 words)

  
 +Free writing tips
No matter what field you are in, active voice will improve your credibility because you are talking to the reader instead of at the reader.
Passive voice indicates an unwillingness or inability to communicate, because it is indirect.
Readers prefer active voice (whether they are aware of it or not), because it decreases the amount of mental work required for understanding the text.
www.mindconnection.com /library/writing/activevoice.htm   (468 words)

  
 Active Voice Tutorial
In the active voice, the subject performs the action represented by the verb.
In passive voice, the emphasis is on the thing done, the result, rather than the action.
While it is sometimes necessary to use the passive voice—when for instance, emphasis should be on the object or an idea—it is a mistake to use this type of construction remorselessly.
www.tarleton.edu /~english/tw/active_voice.html   (247 words)

  
 Active Voice/Passive Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
The passive voice causes trouble mainly 1) because it confuses readers as to exactly who is doing what to whom, 2) it causes wordy sentence constructions.
Most writers prefer the active to the passive voice because it is clearer and simpler, requires fewer words, and identifies the actor and the action more explicitly.
So, simply because something is constructed using the active voice still doesn't mean that something is complete or entirely truthful.
nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu /~nickym/ActivePassive.html   (431 words)

  
 The Active Voice
So the doer of the action, which would be the subject of the sentence in the active voice, need not appear at all in a passive sentence.
The major difference between these two paragraphs is that the first one uses the passive voice wherever the second one uses the active voice.
But the active voice moves your writing forward more clearly and smoothly than either extensive use of linking verbs or the passive voice.
daphne.palomar.edu /TUTOR/active.htm   (583 words)

  
 Academic Center: Grammar and Punctuation Handouts   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Exercise 3: In exercise three, you'll decide whether the sentence is active or passive.
Exercise 4: In exercise four, you'll identify passive sentences within a short passage and revise those sentences to the active voice.
Exercise 5: In exercise five, you'll identify passive sentences within a short passage and revise those sentences to the active voice.
www.uhv.edu /ac/grammar/activeexercises.html   (284 words)

  
 Cisco Systems to Acquire Active Voice Corporation
Active Voice is a leading provider of Internet Protocol (IP)-based unified messaging solutions for the enterprise, that combine e-mail, voice and fax messages into a single, common mailbox accessible via any Internet-connected device anywhere, any time.
The acquisition of Active Voice supports Cisco's vision to deliver unified communications and a single, end-to-end IP network combining data, voice, and video for the corporate enterprise.
Cisco will also pay approximately $30 million in stock for Active Voice's circuit switched PBX voicemail solutions, which will be sold after the acquisition closes, to a newly formed entity comprised of former Active Voice employees for $30 million.
www.cisco.com /warp/public/146/pressroom/2000/nov00/corp_111000.htm   (547 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
In the active voice, the subject of the sentence, which usually appears at the beginning of the sentence, is performing the action of the verb.
However, in the passive voice, the object of the verb appears at the beginning of the sentence.
The passive voice of the verb is appropriate when the performer of the action is unknown or is less important than the receiver of the action.
www.touro.edu /esl/P_AVOICE.HTM   (261 words)

  
 Active Voice vs. Passive Voice by Dian Moore   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
Active voice is exactly what it sounds like.
A manuscript filled with active words is a manuscript that actively draws the reader into the story.
Use passive voice in technical writing and in instances where it does have its place.
www.penwomanship.com /Active-vs-Passive-Moore.htm   (476 words)

  
 Multilingual Writers' Corner: Active / Passive Voice
The passive voice is a form of sentence structure that subordinates the subject of the sentence--the source of action or agency--and in some cases suppresses mention of the subject-actor completely.
You would use the passive voice when you do not want the reader's attention to be focused on the subject, when you prefer the subject's agency in the action not to be seen, or when you want the action to be highlighted but it is not relevant to mention who performed it.
For example, note how, in the following active sentence, the pronoun "him," which is the direct object of the sentence, shifts to "he" when it becomes the subject of the passive version of the same sentence.
www.law.cuny.edu /wc/multilingual/active_passive.html   (751 words)

  
 Hamilton College - Writing Center - The First Deadly Sin: Passive Voice
In most instances, put the verb in the active voice rather than in the passive voice.
In contrast, active voice produces a sentence in which the subject performs an action.
To change a sentence from passive to active voice, determine who or what performs the action, and use that person or thing as the subject of the sentence.
www.hamilton.edu /academics/resource/wc/sins/sin1.html   (225 words)

  
 Exercise on Passive Voice   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
The passive voice occasionally renders precisely a writer's meaning, particularly when the cause of an action either is unknown or is an impersonal force.
The principal trouble with passive voice constructions is their tendency to depersonalize events and disguise the relation between the deed and the doer.
By relying on the passive voice, writers hamstring themselves because their passive clauses and sentences mask the essay's concept from writer and reader alike.
www.mcla.mass.edu /Academics/Majors__Departments/EnglishCommunications/owl/tutr-pv.html   (722 words)

  
 active/passive voice
The verb is active when the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action:
In some situations, however, the passive voice may be used effectively.
The actor may or may not be used in the passive voice sentence.
staff.jccc.net /pmcqueen/tips/Voice.htm   (364 words)

  
 Active Voice Corporation
Active Voice is the largest independent manufacturer of PC-based voice messaging systems in the world.
Active Voice produced one of the world's first PC-based voice mail systems and holds nine U.S. patents in voice processing and computer telephony technology.
Active Voice products are sold through a global network of independent telecommunications dealers, telephone equipment manufacturers, and computer resellers.
www.e-hospitality.com /storefronts/activevoice.html   (101 words)

  
 Voice:  Active and Passive
Because the subject does or "acts upon" the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice.
One can change the normal word order of many active sentences (those with a direct object) so that the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb - or passive.
As the examples below illustrate, a sentence in active voice flows more smoothly and is easier to understand than the same sentence in passive voice.
wwwnew.towson.edu /ows/activepass.htm   (371 words)

  
 Use Active Voice/Plain Language Action & Info Network
Active voice is the best way to identify who is responsible for what action.
In an active sentence, the person or agency who is taking an action is the subject of the sentence.
More than any other writing technique, using active voice and specifying who is taking an action will change the character of our writing.
www.blm.gov /nhp/NPR/hdbk_11.html   (271 words)

  
 Active Voice - A New Way to Communicate, A Better Way to Work®
Active Voice, LLC is a global provider of unified messaging, computer telephony and voice messaging solutions that empower people to communicate and manage information with convenience and efficiency.
With over 120,000 systems sold in more than 60 countries, Active Voice products fit into a variety of business environments—from small companies with as few as 10 people, to large enterprises with thousands of employees.
Active Voice products are sold through a global network of telecommunications and computer resellers, and strategic partners.
www.activevoice.com.au   (237 words)

  
 About
Active Voice is a team of strategic communication specialists who put powerful media to work for personal and institutional change in communities, workplaces, and campuses across America.
The seeds of Active Voice (AV) were planted at P.O.V., PBS's ongoing series of independent "point-of-view" nonfiction films.
Active Voice’s San Francisco team includes Ellen Schneider, Executive Director; Steve Bartz, Project Director, a documentary producer and e-learning specialist, who develops Active Voice's digital and online strategies; Grace Eng, live television event coordinator cum Operations Manager; and Shaady Salehi, Program Coordinator.
www.activevoice.net /about.html   (331 words)

  
 English Grammar: Active Voice, Passive Voice (EnglishClub.com)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
This is the voice that we use most of the time.
You are probably already familiar with the active voice.
The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:
www.englishclub.com /grammar/verbs-voice.htm   (93 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)

Factbites
  About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   Press   |   Contact us  
Copyright © 2005-2007 www.factbites.com Usage implies agreement with terms.