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Good book to teach passive voice in writing?


tammyw
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I have seen it addressed in middle grade grammar books. I know R&S 6 had a section about it.

 

We have had the MCT Grammar Island level for over a year and started it several times. This is the year we actually *do* it (starting grade 4 - can't recall if those were meant to be done in 3rd grade?)

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Strunk and White's The Elements of Style would do it. It's a slim little book that would be a good reference for you over the years, and for them in upper middle school and high school. You can probably find an older edition very inexpensively on Amazon Marketplace.

 

If I recall correctly there's a couple pages devoted to active/passive.

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Strunk and White's The Elements of Style would do it. It's a slim little book that would be a good reference for you over the years, and for them in upper middle school and high school. You can probably find an older edition very inexpensively on Amazon Marketplace.

 

If I recall correctly there's a couple pages devoted to active/passive.

 

Oh thank you! I actually JUST got that book, so I'll flip through it!

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Strunk and White's The Elements of Style would do it. It's a slim little book that would be a good reference for you over the years, and for them in upper middle school and high school. You can probably find an older edition very inexpensively on Amazon Marketplace.

 

If I recall correctly there's a couple pages devoted to active/passive.

 

Second Strunk & White. Excellent advice for any writer.

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Any recommendations? I honestly don't feel I have a good grasp on this myself, and would love to get something excellent for all of us to use.

 

Not a resource, but perhaps if you share what is confusing you, others will be able to help clarify.

 

For example, one way to determine passive vs. active is by looking at who actually performs the action of the verb.

 

In "The cake was baked by the chef," the cake is obviously NOT doing the baking but is actually the receiver of the action and the object of the preposition actually did the baking. That is passive voice. "The chef baked the cake" is active voice.

 

Anytime you see the former pattern, it is passive voice.

 

The snow was shoveled off the driveway by the teenager. PV

The teenager shoveld the snow off the driveway. AV

 

The book was read by Jill. PV

Jill read the book. AV

 

The Declaration of Indendence was written by Thomas Jefferson.

TJ wrote the D of I. AV

 

Some writing programs suggest that all non-active verb writing is inappropriate and needs to re-written. I personally disagree. Subject-linking verb-complement construction is often the preferable/appropriate form.

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Not a resource, but perhaps if you share what is confusing you, others will be able to help clarify.

 

For example, one way to determine passive vs. active is by looking at who actually performs the action of the verb.

 

In "The cake was baked by the chef," the cake is obviously NOT doing the baking but is actually the receiver of the action and the object of the preposition actually did the baking. That is passive voice. "The chef baked the cake" is active voice.

 

Anytime you see the former pattern, it is passive voice.

 

The snow was shoveled off the driveway by the teenager. PV

The teenager shoveld the snow off the driveway. AV

 

The book was read by Jill. PV

Jill read the book. AV

 

The Declaration of Indendence was written by Thomas Jefferson.

TJ wrote the D of I. AV

 

Some writing programs suggest that all non-active verb writing is inappropriate and needs to re-written. I personally disagree. Subject-linking verb-complement construction is often the preferable/appropriate form.

 

Thanks! I pretty much get all that, but I just don't feel confident enough to teach it (or even always recognize that it's happening). I guess I just want to really drive it into my brain so that I can recognize if dd does this in her writing, and help her to avoid it. I think part of it comes from my lack of confidence in writing skills.

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Some writing programs suggest that all non-active verb writing is inappropriate and needs to re-written. I personally disagree. Subject-linking verb-complement construction is often the preferable/appropriate form.

 

Yes, yes, yes, yes! I am a professional writer in a high tech field (where active voice is a staple of our writing diet), and many people see forms of the verb "to be" in a sentence and immediately think "passive voice." The worst editor I ever had was obsessively incorrect about this issue and was constantly marking up the poor "to be" forms, even when used as a linking verb. I got so tired of arguing with her.

 

Furthermore, I think that passive voice is sometimes more appropriate, depending on where you want to place your emphasis.

 

Strunk and White has some passionate followers and equally passionate dissidents. Your mileage may vary.

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My dh would be heartened by this discussion. He often complains that a lot of engineering-related papers are written in PV. "(in droning voice) The experiment was performed to determine....", "It was discovered that...." etc. 8's examples were less extreme (and perhaps harder to catch on the fly?), but anytime you are left wondering, "Who? Who did that? How could it have done that by itself?" that is another clue.:D

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Yes, yes, yes, yes! I am a professional writer in a high tech field (where active voice is a staple of our writing diet), and many people see forms of the verb "to be" in a sentence and immediately think "passive voice." The worst editor I ever had was obsessively incorrect about this issue and was constantly marking up the poor "to be" forms, even when used as a linking verb. I got so tired of arguing with her.

 

Furthermore, I think that passive voice is sometimes more appropriate, depending on where you want to place your emphasis.

 

Strunk and White has some passionate followers and equally passionate dissidents. Your mileage may vary.

 

Thanks for your viewpoint. Do you have any recommendations for good books?

 

ETA: I had been reading this in an article online, yesterday - that sometimes the passive voice is good/preferable. That's where I started getting confused. I just don't have enough background/education in this area, so I was hoping to find a great resource that would give me the confidence to know what I'm talking about :)

Edited by tammyw
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Yes, yes, yes, yes! I am a professional writer in a high tech field (where active voice is a staple of our writing diet), and many people see forms of the verb "to be" in a sentence and immediately think "passive voice." The worst editor I ever had was obsessively incorrect about this issue and was constantly marking up the poor "to be" forms, even when used as a linking verb. I got so tired of arguing with her.

 

Furthermore, I think that passive voice is sometimes more appropriate, depending on where you want to place your emphasis.

 

Strunk and White has some passionate followers and equally passionate dissidents. Your mileage may vary.

 

I'm actually not too crazy about Strunk and White. They can be a little adamant on points that don't really make all that much sense.

 

i agree that using the passive voice is the best way to express things sometimes. See here for information with examples that put it way better than I ever could.

 

That said, I had a comp teacher in college who argued that verbs are the strongest part of speech, closely followed by nouns, with adjectives and adverbs lagging way behind. He required us to write a (medium length) fictional paragraph completely eliminating being verbs. (We might have been required to forgo prepositional phrases, as well.) That proved a surprisingly difficult, but interesting, experiment that brought home his point. After that, when I'm really focusing on editing my writing, I try to make sure that there isn't a better way to put things to eliminate being verbs (yes, even when used as linking verbs), or to incorporate stronger verbs instead of using adverbs, or to incorporate stronger nouns instead of using adjectives. I think this exercise could work well in homeschooling. Just don't take it to the lengths of the editor above on other assignments.

 

By the way, what I've seen of the "dress-ups" in IEW irk me because they're mostly adverbs and adjectives and prepositional phrases. No thank you!

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By the way, what I've seen of the "dress-ups" in IEW irk me because they're mostly adverbs and adjectives and prepositional phrases. No thank you!

 

:iagree: completely. The first key to strong writing is the verb. (it is also why I personally cannot fathom teaching writing separate from grammar. Grammatical structure completely intertwines with voice, tense, strength.)

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ETA: I had been reading this in an article online, yesterday - that sometimes the passive voice is good/preferable. That's where I started getting confused. I just don't have enough background/education in this area, so I was hoping to find a great resource that would give me the confidence to know what I'm talking about :)

 

Think about it this way... If the PV is easy to change, then it probably should be changed. If you have to bend your sentence like a contortionist, then it probably shouldn't. Here's an example:

 

The hot dog was eaten by the boy.

That obviously needs to be changed!

The boy ate the hot dog.

 

On the other hand...

The lightning struck while we were watching TV.

Sure, you could change it...

The lightning struck. We watched TV.

But that changes the meaning.

The lightning struck and we watched TV at the same time.

Well, that's strange.

We watched TV. While that happened, lightning struck.

Well, that's just awkward. And it hasn't really eliminated the PV.

 

There are other examples, but any time you're on the third iteration of trying to get rid of PV, just give up. Unless it's throughout the story or document, then it's probably fine.

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Think about it this way... If the PV is easy to change, then it probably should be changed. If you have to bend your sentence like a contortionist, then it probably shouldn't. Here's an example:

 

The hot dog was eaten by the boy.

That obviously needs to be changed!

The boy ate the hot dog.

 

On the other hand...

The lightning struck while we were watching TV.

Sure, you could change it...

The lightning struck. We watched TV.

But that changes the meaning.

The lightning struck and we watched TV at the same time.

Well, that's strange.

We watched TV. While that happened, lightning struck.

Well, that's just awkward. And it hasn't really eliminated the PV.

 

There are other examples, but any time you're on the third iteration of trying to get rid of PV, just give up. Unless it's throughout the story or document, then it's probably fine.

 

How about While we were watching TV, the lightning struck. I prefer The lightning struck while we were watching TV. And see, I am still not understanding passive vs active voice in this example. (I'm quite certain I'm showing my idiocy in this thread!)

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Active: The Romans conquered Britain.

 

Passive: Britain was conquered by the Romans.

 

 

Active: VeggieTales entertained the children while I cleaned the kitchen.

 

Passive: The children were entertained by VeggieTales while I cleaned the kitchen.

 

 

Active: The novel engrossed me.

 

Passive: I was engrossed by the novel.

 

 

 

IMHO, the modern-writing push to eradicate passive writing is just silly. These stylistic trends come and go.

 

It reminds me of the false grammar "rules" they taught us in school, like "Always say, 'Robert and I...' instead of 'Robert and me.'" I know MANY people who think that's really a rule! Of course it's not! Mom gave the cookies to Robert and me. :)

 

It's also NOT a rule to "avoid the passive voice whenever possible." :glare: (At least it's not a rule in my book. ;))

 

I think it is useful to arrange sentences so that they are strong, but this does not always need to be accomplished "strong verbs", or short, Hemingway-like writing. :)

 

Of course, I'm old-fashioned, prefer pre-20th literature, and NOT a modern editor. :)

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