Active or Passive, You Be the Judge
Turn the following PASSIVE sentence into an ACTIVE SENTENCE:
The funny Doberman was walked by the stand-up comic after the late-night show.
What is ...
The stand-up comic walked the funny Doberman after the late-night show.
Which is correct?
Option A: Everyday I have a vanilla milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Option B: The best writers practice their writing every day.
Option C: The best writers practice there writing every day.
Option B:
The best writers practice their writing every day.
In this case "every day" is an adverb.
Everyday is an adjective. Use everyday when describing something: "They go to Walmart for the everyday low prices."
What's wring with the following:
Coming out of the market, the bananas fell on the pavement.
Bananas cannot come out of a market by themselves.
Revise: Coming out of the market, the man dropped the bananas on the pavement.
Here is a quote. What is the punctuation error?
"I plan to take the test next Thursday. I hope it will be an easy exam", Dawn said.
The comma needs to go inside the quote mark in this case.
"I plan to take the test next Thursday. I hope it will be an easy exam," Dawn said.
What type of sentence — S-V-O, compound or complex — is the following?
Mary plans to take the test on Monday, but John will not take it until Friday.
You have a compound sentence.
Compound sentences have TWO independent clauses joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction. (The FANBOYS.)
When you have a PASSIVE voice, the person or thing doing the action in the sentence often appears in WHAT PART of a sentence?
For instance:
The students were taught Jeopardy by the amazing professor.
The person doing the action appears in a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE.
In this case BY THE AMAZING PROFESSOR.
When you use it's, you are making a contraction of IT and IS.
When you use ITS, you are using the _______________ form of the pronoun IT.
The possessive form of IT.
The possessive form of other pronouns include...
HIS, HER, MY, OUR, THEIR
Spot the problem:
Playing cribbage in the living room, the TV was turned on by Jim.
The TV cannot play cribbage.
Revise: While playing cribbage in the living room, Jim turned on the TV.
A two-part question:
A) What kind of quote is the following — full, partial or paraphrased:
"The staff members will decide this week if the university will raise tuition this coming fall," Jane Smith, the university president said, "If there is an increzse, we hope it will be small."
B) What are the two punctuation errors?
a) A Full Direct Quote
b) You need a comma after president and a period, not a comma, after said.
Name the FANBOYS.
For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So
Which is usually more concise, an ACTIVE sentence or a PASSIVE sentence?
Here is an example:
Passive: The J212 students were stumped by the Jeopardy questions. (9 words)
Active sentences are usually more concise.
Active: The Jeopardy questions stumped the J212 students. (7 words)
Seems a lot of people don't know when to use AFFECT and EFFECT.
Come up front and write a sentence using each one correctly.
Affect is usually a VERB/an Action
The test affected the student's grade.
Effect is a usually a noun
The special effect was very cool.
Revise the following to make it grammatically correct:
Soaring high above the fields, we could see the eagle clearly.
Soaring high above the fields, the eagle was easy to see.
A two-part question:
a) What type of quote is the following?
President Joe Biden swept unannounced into Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called, “a brutal and unjust war” days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
b) What is the punctuation error above?
a) Partial quote
b) No comma after CALLED:
President Joe Biden swept unannounced into Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called “a brutal and unjust war” days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
In the following, pick out the ...
a) Complex Sentence and b) the S-V-O sentence.
Many college students love Colleen Hoover's books. Her books read easily, and they are exciting. Because the books are so popular, Hoover has become quite famous.
S-V-O: Many college students love Colleen Hoover's books.
Complex: Because the books are so popular, Hoover has become quite famous.
Why do writing coaches suggest you use ACTIVE voice more so than PASSIVE voice?
Often, readers want to know who is doing the action ASAP.
It's also tricky to know when to use FEWER and LESS.
Which of the following is correct?
Fewer students came to class today than Friday because of the holiday.
Less students came to class today than Friday because of the holiday.
Fewer students came to class today than Friday because of the holiday.
User FEWER when you can actually COUNT something.
Use LESS with things like water or sand/quantities.
(There is less sand at the beach than there used to be.)
What's wrong with the following ... and how can you revise it to read correctly?
Sizzling on the barbecue, my uncle smelled the delicious sausages.
My uncle smelled the delicious sausages sizzling on the barbecue.
There are two punctuation errors in the following. Can you spot them?
On Monday, Joe Biden, the president of the United States said, “I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war”.
a) You need a comma after United States to close the appositive.
b) The period should go inside the quote marks.
On Monday, Joe Biden, the president of the United States, said, “I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war.”
Two-part question:
Part One: What is wrong with the following?
The UO is in Eugene, it draws students from around the area.
What are four ways you can fix the sentence so that it is grammatically correct?
a) It's a comma splice.
b) Four Fixes:
a. The UO is in Eugene. It draws students from around the area.
b. The UO is in Eugene; it draws students from around the area.
c. The UO is in Eugene, and it draws students from around the area.
d. Because the UO is in Eugene, it draws students from around the area.
The PASSIVE voice is formed by using a form of the auxiliary verb “be”.
What are some of the forms of "be"?
be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been
Examples:
The bird is fed every morning by the grandmother.
The students were taught calculus by the GE.
The Duck was voted the coolest mascot by the fans.
Find the misspellings in this paragraph:
There house is the one near the school. Everyday, after school and after meeting with the principle, the two children head home. On Thursdays, they definitly have homework to do. But on Friday, its restarant day. The kids and they're parents head out for pizza.
The misspellings:
There should be their.
Everyday should be every day.
Principle should be principal.
Definitly should be definitely.
Its should be it's.
Restarant should be restaurant.
They're should be their.
What's wrong with the following ... and how can you revise?
With every limb aching, the spectators cheered as he crossed the line.
With every limb aching, the runner crossed the finish line as the the spectators cheered.
What's wrong with the following?
"We look forward to many students studying at the SOJC." said SOJC Dean Juan-Carlos Molleda, "We need talented communicators in our world today".
a) You need a comma after SOJC, not a period.
b) You need a period after Molleda, not a comma (it's the end of the sentence).
c) The period after today needs to go inside the quotation marks.
"We look forward to many students studying at the SOJC," said SOJC Dean Juan-Carlos Molleda. "We need talented communicators in our world today."
This is a two-parter:
Compare these two verses from two popular songs.
Q1: Which one uses STRONG verbs?
Q2: Name the singers.
SONG A:
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was
You know it's not the same
SONG B:
In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run
Song B uses Strong Verbs
In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby, we were born to run
Song A
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was
You know it's not the same