Passive Voice

[Dogar The Brave]

What the hell is it and do I use it on PD often. If so, I want all of you to correct me every time I use it. Supposedly, using it in history papers is very unprofessional, why haven't I learned this until now? Like seriously, not using passive voice is harder than quitting cigarettes. Why is passive voice so bad anyways?

[ShadowRaven]

Being assertive is everything.

[Solly]

ONLY FAGGOTS USE PASSIVE VOICES

[TeenageAngst]

"The boy was petting the dog."

As opposed to:

"The boy had pet the dog."

Or even more passive:

"The boy had been petting the dog."

[error 404]

"The boy was petting the dog."

As opposed to:

"The boy had pet the dog."

Or even more passive:

"The boy had been petting the dog."

What he said.
I can be hard really hard to correct this.
the best way to think of it is never have the item (or person) who is doing the action, described as doing the action. You have to show them doing the action. They need to be actively doing something.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com...ive-voice.aspx

Go to this when you need help.

[Kirby]

I have a good question

WHO THE FUCK CARES

[God]

i honestly dont know what the difference is and dont care. i write in whatever way is best suited for whatever i happen to be writing.

[trixie]

Why is it unprofessional? As long as it sounds and is grammatically correct and fits the context etc, why would it make a difference?

[Dogar The Brave]

That's the thing, it IS grammatically correct, it just is looked down upon by historians. And God I feel the same way, I REALLY hate this shit.

[trixie]

Write the same thing in the two different voices and compare.

[Eve]

thats ridiculous. i honestly cant believe you are being smited because of something as stupid as that


to be honest ive never even heard of it before

[error 404]

I had to learn the difference to pass the act and junk. Write college resumes and college essays.

[Dogar The Brave]

Write the same thing in the two different voices and compare.

IF I could tell the difference I would, but I really can't.

thats ridiculous. i honestly cant believe you are being smited because of something as stupid as that


to be honest ive never even heard of it before

If Eve, a British woman, doesn't see the problem then I don't know why American Historians should either.

I had to learn the difference to pass the act and junk. Write college resumes and college essays.

That's the thing, I want to write in historical journals one day, I have to get used to this now.

[Hicky]

The opposite is 'active', which means that a sentence is framed in a way that the person performing the verb is the active belligerent of the verb.

So 'I own a cow' would be active. The 'passive' would imply that someone was the indirect, 'passive' recipient of the verb and the sentence was not framed in a way that was based on the fact that he performed the verb. 'The cow had been owned by me' would be passive, meaning that the sentence focuses on the cow and it is the passive, as opposed to active, recipient of the verb.

[Kirby]

Dogar ignores everything I say even when I agree with him.

[Hicky]

In language, it's generally advisable to avoid the passive voice, not just in history essays. Basically it represents a diverted focus and a refusal to address the question, and leads to a tendency to be irrelevant and not deal thoroughly with the subject matter. In Romance languages and languages which revolve around sound grammatical expression, if a person uses the passive voice in essays too frequently they will be heavily penalised for its usage.

[Dogar The Brave]

See the cow example is basic, but when you write a long sentence with more shit in it it gets tricky to change. For example:

Since the founding of the nation, America’s history has been recorded with diverse interpretations and emphasis; this pattern has continued into the modern era. It has become increasingly evident from the assigned readings that the portrayal of American history has depended heavily on two factors: when it was written and the worldview of the writer.


Can you find the passive voice and correct it into active? Bold the corrections.

[pichubro]

The first six words are in passive... "Since the nation's founding" would be less passive. Also, you should not begin sentences with "It" because that tends to set up your sentences as passive subconsciously.

[Dogar The Brave]

I eventually edited it to:

Since the founding of the nation, chroniclers of America’s history applied diverse interpretations and emphasis; this pattern has continued into the modern era. The assigned readings and class discussions consistently uncovered two factors that influenced the portrayal of American history: the writer’s own time period and the writer’s worldview.

[Eve]

well my minds blown already

[Dogar The Brave]

Yeah, it's crazy.

[trixie]

Both sound good to me.