Passive Voice Language Arts



English IV/CW Grammar Handout: Active/Passive Voice and Dialogue Ms.Geiger Name:Date: Active VoiceIn active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. [Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]John washes the dishes.The subject performs the verb. Passive VoiceIn passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. [Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]The students are taught by the professorSomething is being DONE to something else. Exercises: Change active voice to passive, and passive to active:When the Phillies's Shane Victorino overran him, third base was stolen by Johnny Damon. A happy Thanksgiving is wished by me for everyone. The attorney general indicted the notorious gangster, Al Capone, for federal income tax evasion. A common overuse of passive voice is using the verb TO BE.Ex: When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage. (passive)Ex: After?suitors?invaded Penelope’s house, she had to think of ways to fend them off. (active)Your turn! Try editing the paragraph below to detect examples of passive voice:The room was entered by Dr. Wheeler, at which point words of advice regarding active verbs were spoken by him. It was decided by the rebellious class that the final paper of the semester would be written entirely in passive voice. Remarks were made by a distraught Wheeler; protests were made by the students. A seat was gotten out of by one student. His desk was stood upon by him, and a vow was made by him that he would never write another active sentence. He was challenged to a duel. Blood was shed. Butts were kicked. Lives were lost. Shrieks could be heard. The halls of Henderson were run down by people who were concerned. When the room was entered by them, carnage was seen by them. When Wheeler was found standing over the bodies, only these words were spoken by him: "Mistakes were made." Dialogue: Dialogue has its?own rules for punctuation. When you revise dialogue, be sure to punctuate it correctly so that your readers can see who is talking and where a line of dialogue begins or ends. The rules for using quotation marks, commas, and end marks of punctuation are listed below.Use quotation marks before and after a character's exact words. Place a period inside closing quotation marks.??????"Peter and Esteban are joining us."Use a comma to set off the speaker's tag (he said) from the beginning of a quotation. Place the comma inside closing quotation marks when the speaker's tag follows the quotation.????? Harry said, "Come on, Ray. It'll be fun."??????"Let's go,"?Gilda said.Use quotation marks around each part of a divided quotation. Remember to set off the speaker's tag with commas.??????"I'm not sure,"?said Ray, "that I feel like it."Place a question mark or an exclamation point inside the quotation marks when it is part of the quotation.??????"When will we be back?"?Ray asked.??????"Hooray!"?said Debbi.Place a question mark or an exclamation point outside the quotation marks when it is not part of the quotation.????? Did I hear Ray say,?"Okay"?????? I can't believe he said,?"Okay"!Start a new paragraph when you move from one speaker to another.????? "How long a hike is it?" Ray asked. "I don't know whether I have the energy."????? "I think," said Iris, "that it's about seven miles to the top."Directions: Rewrite the sentences with any needed corrections. Circle any changes you make. There is no need to change the wording.The teacher said “to open to page twenty.”I told Alex “Jeff said, ‘I would really like to go and visit Paris,” when I was talking to him earlier.“We should go now,” said Mary. “So that we are not late to the movie.” “I hate it when my mom says “the early bird gets the worm,’” Said Robert.The stewardess announced, “The departure of the next flight.” “I want some ice cream!,” screamed the young child. “The teacher said, ‘open to page thirty,’” replied Jane. The angry fan yelled, “your blind!” to the umpire.“Did she really say, ‘get out of here’”? asked Ten Dialogue Tips!1- Read dialogue aloud.? It’s meant to be heard, after all.? This will help you to listen to the voices of your characters, noticing the flow and movement of their words.2- Don’t use dialogue to convey large chunks of information (exposition).? People don’t sound like this: “Since we arrived here at four, to watch for Martin Goodfellow, the murderer, I’ve felt hunrgy.”? It’s okay if readers don’t know exactly what’s happening at all times – trust them to understand the story because they are intrigued by the voices of your characters.3- Dialogue should sound real, but that doesn’t mean dialogue on the page is exactly like snippets of dialogue you overhear.? You don’t need all the?Hellos,?Goodbyes?and boring small talk of daily life.? Cut it out.4- Good dialogue should move the story forward, convey character and feel full of life.? The best place to see great dialogue is by attending (or reading) plays, watching movies or even just switching on the TV.5- If you want your character to say, “I need you,” think about the words they would actually use.??Perhaps they’d say, “I can’t- Do you have to catch the early bus?”Jane Espenson writes, “Want to write an emotional moment?? Increase your quotient of stumbles and restarts.”? She writes scripts for TV?(shows like Buffy and The Gilmore Girls) and her insight into writing dialogue is helpful to?think about here.6- Learn how to write the correct punctuation for speech.? It’ll be a useful tool for you as a writer, making it easier for you to write the dialogue you?want,?and it’ll help your work look professional when publishers read it.7- Another technical dialogue tip:?he said?and?she said?read just fine.? Don’t worry about repetition, most readers glide over?he said/she said?as if those words were punctuation.? Too many of these:exclaimed, gasped, screeched, postulated, reasoned, argued, pondered, mouthed, etc… and your dialogue will be overwhelmed by the words around it.8- Have people argue with people, or?have people saying surprising, contrary things.? If everyone is agreeing with each other, your story will?feel flat.9- Think about how each of your characters sounds.? Make each voice distinct – this can be subtle or dramatic.??Perhaps one character likes to use a certain word?or short phrase,?so make sure the other characters don’t use that same word or phrase.? It’s a small distinction, but useful.? More dramatic distinctions are up to you!10- People don’t have to answer each other directly.? Sometimes what’s?not?said has huge meaning. ................
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