Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » His Voice was Tense (Not Passive)

   
Author Topic: His Voice was Tense (Not Passive)
philocinemas
Member
Member # 8108

 - posted      Profile for philocinemas   Email philocinemas         Edit/Delete Post 
I know there are umpteen million posts on passive voice, but it is constantly coming up in critiques, and I thought that maybe I could give a new take on it.

VERB TENSE DOES NOT MAKE SOMETHING PASSIVE.
Here are the verb tenses (I will copy them from a source - Harbrace - and then give my own examples):
PRESENT - walk
PAST - walked
PRESENT PERFECT - have walked
PAST PERFECT - had walked
FUTURE - will walk
FUTURE PERFECT - will have walked
There is also a PROGRESSIVE form of these tenses that involve adding "-ing" and/or a form of "be" (such as walking, were walking, have been walking, had been walking, will be walking, will have been walking).
None of the above are passive in and of themselves.

PASSIVE VOICE is when the Direct or Indirect Object of a sentence is made the subject. That subject then becomes acted upon. One of the tell-tale signs is there will ALWAYS be a form of "be" with a past-participle of another verb (such as "have been written", or "were handed", or "are counted", etc.). If the "real" subject of the sentence is included, it will always follow a preposition (such as "by Stephen" or "from Mike")

In Active Voice, ANY word can be a Subject - it doesn't have to be a living thing:
"The sound of fireworks woke John" is a perfectly good sentence.
"John was awakened by the sound of fireworks", however, is passive, because the subject is receiving the action.

We use passive voice often without thinking about it:
"He was born on the Fourth of July" is passive.
"His mother gave birth to him on the Fourth of July", oddly enough, is active.

Passive Voice is NOT ALWAYS WRONG. Sometimes it makes more sense to use passive voice when the Direct object is more important that the subject. However, one should limit its use as much as possible.

PASSIVE VOICE HAS THE FOLLOWING:
1 - The "subject" is being acted upon - it is the receiver of the action.
2 - There will be a form of "be" followed by a past-participle of another verb.
3 - If the "real" subject is included, it will always follow a preposition.


[This message has been edited by philocinemas (edited March 23, 2011).]


Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
TamesonYip
Member
Member # 9072

 - posted      Profile for TamesonYip   Email TamesonYip         Edit/Delete Post 
I recently had to try to explain that to a student for an SAT grammar section. Poor kid had a heck of a time trying to understand that concept- much easier when she just remembered had verb is bad.
Posts: 232 | Registered: Apr 2010  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
philocinemas
Member
Member # 8108

 - posted      Profile for philocinemas   Email philocinemas         Edit/Delete Post 
It has been about 25 years since I took the SAT, but I would think that they would include a sentence with "had" in the active voice among the choices to keep people from just choosing the sentence with "had" in it.

Posts: 2003 | Registered: Jul 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Pyre Dynasty
Member
Member # 1947

 - posted      Profile for Pyre Dynasty   Email Pyre Dynasty         Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks for this, it's been a few years since my editing teacher made me do a bunch of tense tables. It's nice to be reminded.
They don't teach this in high school anymore, they barely get to prepositions.

Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2