Active vs. Passive
Matt scored a goal with 2 seconds to go.
Active or Passive Voice?
Active voice
Matt is at the start of the sentence.
The plane landed safely at the airport.
Identify the nouns in the sentence.
plane, airport
An interuption in current events where you go back to something that happened previously or prior to now is a ____________.
Flashback
As a doctor, I can certainly say that this product will definitely improve your health and overall life.
ETHOS
WHO am I?
I had finally gotten used to being weightless. It became a comfortable feeling. I especially liked floating by the window to see the planet Earth below.
Astronaut
Active or Passive voice?
The movie was being watched by the class.
Passive Voice
I saw my teacher at the store.
Identify the nouns.
teacher, store
Is the voice of this passage FORMAL or INFORMAL?
We are looking for volunteers for next week’s field trip to the Museum of Natural History. We will depart the school at exactly nine a.m. on a charter bus. The drive will take approximately one hour. We will split up into groups of six and each parent chaperoning will have charge of one group. We will reconvene at noon and have lunch on the bus. Then the groups will return to the museum for two more hours of sight‐seeing. We expect to be back at the school by four in the afternoon. If you are interested in chaperoning please contact Miss Lynn as soon as possible.
FORMAL
If you don't buy this life insurance today, then you are letting your family down. Do you really want to be responsible for letting your family down?
PATHOS
WHERE am I?
I was allowed to push the cart. The front left wheel was broken, so the cart wobbled down each aisle. Mother put various packages and boxes in the cart, but I didn’t notice. I was trying to keep the cart going straight as it got heavier and heavier.
For a sentence with ACTIVE voice, what comes at the BEGINNING of the sentence?
The subject (the who or the what)
Identify the verbs in this sentence:
Read the book, then write your answer, and tell me when you are finished.
Read, write, tell
Who is the audience for this passage?
We are looking for volunteers for next week’s field trip to the Museum of Natural History. We will depart the school at exactly nine a.m. on a charter bus. The drive will take approximately one hour. We will split up into groups of six and each parent chaperoning will have charge of one group. We will reconvene at noon and have lunch on the bus. Then the groups will return to the museum for two more hours of sight‐seeing. We expect to be back at the school by four in the afternoon. If you are interested in chaperoning please contact Miss Lynn as soon as possible.
Parents of students
It is a fact that smoking causes cancer. If you don't want cancer, then don't smoke!
LOGOS
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and
looked around, she could see nothing but
the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor
a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
NO, it's gray and dull.
What is at the BEGINNING of a sentence that is written in PASSIVE voice?
The verb or the action
Identify the nouns:
The students enjoy reading books about fairies.
students, books, fairies
Is the voice of this passage FORMAL or INFORMAL?
Can you help us out next week? We’re taking an awesome bus trip into D.C. to the museum that has all the dinosaur bones in it. It’ll take us an hour to get there, then we’ll split up into groups and go check things out. After lunch on the bus we’ll cruise back into the museum for a second look. Then we’ll shoot home, ahead of rush hour traffic. If you want to get in on this, call Miss Lynn!
INFORMAL
Donate to our troops because they are the ones risking their lives for our freedoms!
PATHOS
What happened next?
Alice was carrying a large clothes basket from the bedroom down the stairs to the laundry room. She struggled under the weight of the basket. She wished her younger brothers would help her. Instead, they were playing. She had heard them throwing a baseball in the house earlier. She had told them to go outside. They had gone to the backyard, but they had left the baseball on the stairs.
She fell and the laundry went everywhere.
Change the sentence to passive voice.
Victor scored the winning point of the game last night.
After mom told him he couldn't go out Friday night, Eric stormed out of the house.
Identify the verbs:
My sister drove her car to the store after she ate dinner with her friends.
drove, ate
The voice of this person lets us know they are probably talking to who?
Good afternoon, I just wanted to thank you for shutting our gate yesterday. I’ll be more careful in the future to make sure the dog doesn’t get out again
A neighbor
As your teacher, I really want you to do your best so that you can have opportunities after high school.
ETHOS
WHO am I?
I liked walking next to the covered wagon more than riding in it with my sisters. If I got tired, sometimes my father would let me ride horseback behind him. In the evening, Pa, my brothers and I would sleep under the wagon, while Ma and my sisters slept in the wagon. I hoped we would reach the West soon.
A pioneer boy heading west