Your Verbs are Talking – Are You Listening?
Posted on June 5, 2017
Verbs are the words in a sentence that show action. At the very least, a sentence needs a subject and a verb. “Authors write.” There you have it – a complete sentence. Authors are the subject – the noun (person, place or thing), performing the action. Write is the action that the author takes. Just two words. One complete thought is communicated. Perfect. This is the basic building block of all you will write. A subject meets up with an action.
Now that we have that out of the way. Verbs come in two flavors: passive or active. Passive means an action is done to them, something outside of them is doing the action. Active means they act on their own.
Here is an example: Greg won the race (active); the race was won by Greg (passive).
Now why should you care? Well here is why.
Even though writing in the passive voice is not incorrect, it siphons out the “punch” of your sentences. It’s like a bike tire with a slow leak. That hissing sound is your passive writing. It slowly sucks away the air of your sentences.
You will vastly improve your writing by making one, but powerful adjustment — make your sentences active.
Read the following examples and see if you agree:
(Active) Grace ate the beef stew.
(Passive) The beef stew was eaten by Grace.
(Active) Jim hit the papparazi when he took his picture.
(Passive) The papparazi was hit by Jim for taking Jim’s picture.
(Active) My dog jumped up on the counter.
(Passive) The counter was jumped on by my dog.
(Active) Jeff posted his first entry on Facebook.
(Passive) The first entry to Facebook was posted by Jeff.
The active voice sounds more . . . well . . . more active, more present, more alive.
Your Assignment
So here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it: go back through some of your past writings or better yet, something you’ve recently written. Take a look at whether your sentences are active or passive. Where you find them in the passive, rewrite them to active and see if you don’t agree this single change really brings your sentences to life.
Now there are times when a sentence carries more weight in the passive voice. But I think you’ll find that’s the exception, not the rule.
As always, leave me a comment to tell me what you think.
Ah, the wonders of the English language!