PASSIVE SENTENCES

Passive case (someone, I'm sure, will be clearer about this than I am) tends to be kind of a weaselly expression. Dunno how to better explain it, it's kind of like not coming out directly and saying something and instead dancing around the point. Did the subject do something (active) or have something done to it (passive)? For example:

I parked my car at noon.
At noon, my car was parked.

Re: PASSIVE SENTENCES

That's one of the old wives tales of language, Jespah. Certainly, English favors the active but there are sound grammatical and semantic reasons for using the passive in some situations.

Often the choice between the passive or active is simply a matter of a shift in focus. The receiver of the action becomes the focal point [as in 1], or it is an inanimate object that warrants the attention, [as in 2]. The more important semantic feature of the sentence, sometimes/oftentimes, becomes the sole focus, with no mention of the "doer" of the action.

1. "Ellen MacArthur was knighted for traveling round the world in a yacht so ..."

2. "Mercedes-Benz M-Class SUVs are manufactured in Vance (AL), transported to Blount Island and shipped to the Middle East, South Africa and Europe. ..."


Of course, it can be used, as you mentioned, as a dodge, but that doesn't make it a "bad" feature of language. When you think about it, grammar is actually completely neutral. We use it to string words together to speak to and about an infinite variety of things.

But grammar and word choice are not the only things that determine meaning. There's a big difference between,

Get outta here!

and

Get outta here!

isn't there?

No...

Well, it's not always weaselly, to be sure. There are definitely instances were it's a good idea to use passive case. I think it's good for softening the blow types of statements, too.

She divorced him
He was divorced by her

I dunno.

One of the key differences between paasive and active vioce is:
Active asks "...who is doing it?"
Passive asks "...what is being done?"

When the subject is important (He stole my money.) then use the active voice.
When the agent (the doer in passive voice) is not important (I was given an injection [by the nurse]. ) use the passive voice.
When the agent is unknown ( The bridge was built in 1877.), use passive.
When you want to divert attetion (The radio was dropped (by me, oops!). use passive.

The construction is usually
Active Subject verb object I hit him.
Passive Object "be" +verb PP (by someone). He was hit (by me.)

Don't confuse "He was tired." as passive.

"Be" can be subtituted by some other words.

Andy

Passive voice
If you are having trouble recognizing passive voice, this example may help:


"The dog bit the man."

"The man was bitten by the dog."


Dog----------->bites-------------->man.
This statement uses active voice. It proceeds from left to right.


Man <--------------was bitten <--(by) <---dog.



The natural reading order of left to right [Actor/action/object] represents (subject, verb, object =SVO) and active voice.

Object (Man) Verb (was bitten) Subject (dog) OVS = passive voice. The receiving object comes first, then the verb and subject, which is right to left.

*******
You asked:
"PLZ HELP ME IDENTIFY THE PASSIVE SENTENCES IN MY ESSAY!!!

"The Big Three Meet at Tehran" was the headline for several different newspapers in Allied Countries."
**********
This is an interesting sentence. Stated in SVO, it becomes:

"Several newspapers in Allied countries carried the same headline: 'The Big Three Meet at Theran.'"

Newspapers----------> carried ------------> headline [specific words]


The real "actors" in this sentence were the newspapers. Actors get to be the "subject" in active voice. I think students may get confused because both are nouns--the actor and the object. So which is the subject? The one doing the work.

Clarity is the issue with active and passive voice. If you read left to right and the message arrives right to left, the brain has to bend around to get the author's meaning and may invent its own (incorrect) meaning in process. Confusion can follow. Passive expression is usually wordier, too, and wordiness undercuts clarity.

If you want to make your point perfectly clear, SVO raises that probability It also makes the actor explicit. In journalism and often in other writing, people want to know who did the deed, as well as what deed was done.

"The man was bitten" does not point to who did the biting. O-V-?
Context could clarify who bit him, but a stand-alone active-voice sentence would necessarily say, "The mastiff bit the man."

Scientific reports don't much care who did the deed. "The metal was dipped into muriatic acid" probably makes more sense to say than "Joe Scientist then dipped the metal into muriatic acid."

Think carefully about what is happening. Picture it if you can. Draw or make arrows if it helps. As you practice, you will begin to see those arrows or something like them pointing the way to active and passive voice. S-->V-->O is active voice. O<--V<--S or ? is passive.

Good luck!

Sal