Passive verses Active Voice in writing

When we say voice in grammar, we are talking about whether the subject of a sentence is acting or being acted upon by the action (or transitive) verb. Which one of these two sentences do you think is written in the active voice? I am kicked by her. She kicked me.

When we say voice in grammar, we are talking about whether the subject of a sentence is acting or be acted upon by the action (or transitive) verb. Which one of these two sentences do you think is written in the active voice? She kicked me.

This dog wears flippers. Flippers are worn by this dog.

This dog wears flippers.

Angie was sung by The Rolling Stones when they performed at the Georgia Dome four years ago.

Angie was sung by The Rolling Stones when they performed at the Georgia Dome four years ago.

The verb of a sentence in the passive voice will always contain some form of to be. I amI was You areYou were He/She/It isHe/She/It was They areThey were The past and present forms of to be:

Angie was sung by The Rolling Stones when they performed at the Georgia Dome four years ago. Can you change it to active voice?

The Rolling Stones sung Angie when they performed at the Georgia Dome four years ago.

The silly boys playing soccer in the street were laughed at by the girls when a ball was kicked through the window.

The girls laughed at the silly boys playing soccer in the street when they kicked a ball through the window.

The bees that rest on their beekeepers body do not sting him.

The bees that rest on their beekeepers body do not sting him. The beekeeper is not stung by the bees that rest on his body.

Lets change our sentences to a different voice (change to active if your sentence is in passive and vice versa). The French woman walks her dogs down the Champs-Elysées on a winter afternoon.

Lets change our sentences to a different voice (change to active if your sentence is in passive and vice versa). The French woman walks her dogs down the Champs-Elysées on a winter afternoon. On a winter afternoon, the dogs are walked down the Champs Elysées by the French woman.

Lets change our sentences to a different voice (change to active if your sentence is in passive and vice versa). Political and spiritual texts were read by Gandhi even while food was not eaten by him.

Gandhi read and wrote political and spiritual texts even while he fasted. Lets change our sentences to a different voice (change to active if your sentence is in passive and vice versa). Political and spiritual texts were read by Gandhi even while food was not eaten by him.

All the citizens of the jungle admired Tetsuo the flying monkey for his strange, yet powerful, flying body, and therefore crowned him king of the jungle. Tetsuo ruled his jungle with a gentle hand and developed many wonderful social programs for the other animals to enjoy. For example, he created a day care center for parents so that they could hunt without worrying about human hunters preying on their babies. Only the lion hated the monkey, the monkey who stole the lions crown. The gentle monkey sympathized with the humiliated lion, and out of his great since of generosity offered to share the seat of jungle ruler with Batar the lion. And use only the active voice

All the citizens of the jungle admired Tetsuo the flying monkey for his strange, yet powerful, flying body, and therefore crowned him king of the jungle. Tetsuo ruled his jungle with a gentle hand and developed many wonderful social programs for the other animals to enjoy. For example, he created a day care center for parents so that they could hunt without worrying about human hunters preying on their babies. Only the lion hated the monkey, the monkey who stole his crown. The gentle monkey sympathized with the humiliated lion, and out of his great sense of generosity offered to share the seat of jungle ruler with Batar the lion. Now lets change our sentences to the passive voice

Tetsuo the flying monkey, was admired by all the citizens of the jungle for his strange, yet powerful, flying body, and therefore he was crowned king of the jungle by the citizens. The jungle was ruled by his gentle hand and many wonderful social programs were developed by Tetsuo for the other animals to enjoy. For example, a day care center was created by Tetsuo for parents so that they could hunt without worrying about their babies being preyed upon by human hunters. The monkey was only hated by the lion because his Crown was stolen by the monkey. The humiliated lion, Batar, was sympathized with by the gentle monkey, and was offered to share the seat of jungle ruler by the generous Tetsuo. And it sounds awful!

Tonight, rewrite your essays changing all passive sentences to active sentences. I will then re-grade your paper and average the new score with the old score. If you want more detailed information on passive and active voice, you can go to this website.