Today we did some basic grammar work to aid us with our essay edits.

In active voice sentences the subject does the action.

Example: Liz played the piano. •

The sentence that uses the active voice is stronger, uses fewer words, and clearly shows who performs the action.

In passive voice sentences the subject receives the action.

Example: The piano was played by Liz. –

The sentence that uses the passive voice is weaker and less direct. It is, however, not incorrect to use the passive voice. • Sometimes the doer of the action is omitted in passive voice sentences. Example: The piano was played.

Some students confused active and passive voice with the verb tense. A sentence could have a present, past, or future tense verb and still be active or passive. It is all about whether the subject is doing the action or the action is being done to the subject.

Thomas feeds his dog.  – This is an example of active voice and Thomas is the subject of the sentence. Thomas is doing the action (feeding).

The dog is fed by Thomas. – This is and example of passive voice and the subject is now dog. The dog is being fed so the subject is receiving the action.

Tomorrow is our Writing Conference Day where any student doing extra writing can have it reviewed with me for extra credit.