[stylist] the passive voice

[Julie J.]

Ummmm...I'm still terribly confused.

Julie

On 4/11/2012 10:00 AM, loristay at aol.com wrote:
> The easiest way to demonstrate the passive voice is to examine the use of verbs.
> Active voice includes action verbs.  Passive voice includes verbs such as were, was, are, had been etc.  Non transitive verbs, that is, verbs that don't take objects. (Forgive me,  I used to be an English teacher)
>
>
>
> Passive example:
>
>
>
> After my hospital stay, I was home.
>
>
>
>
> Active example:
>
>
> After my hospital stay, I drove home.
>
>
> Passive example:
>
>
> Charlie was there, now that he was home.
>
>
> Active example:
>
>
> Charlie lived home.
>
>
>
>
> Questions?
> Lori
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Julie J.<julielj at neb.rr.com>
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List<stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wed, Apr 11, 2012 10:49 am
> Subject: [stylist] the passive voice
>
>
> Hello all!
>
> I don't write to this list much.  So if you've forgotten me, I'm Julie
> and I'm working on writing a nonfiction book.  I have no background in
> writing.  I've never written a book before.  At the rate I'm going I
> don't know if I will write another one!
>
> Anyway, this morning after snapping out of my zombie state induced by
> staring at the blank screen of doom, I decided to procrastinate by
> messing on the internet.  I stumbled across a blog post on writing style
> that mentioned to avoid the passive voice.  I looked up some other info
> on it, but I'm still not sure that I understand.  However I think a load
> of my writing is in the passive voice.
>
> So I'm asking you my most knowledgeable writing friends, please help me
> with this. I need to understand what exactly the passive voice is, how
> to avoid it or fix it and if there is any situation where it is appropriate.
>
> Thanks!
> Julie
>
>
>
>
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