1. Active and Passive Voice • VOICE indicates if the subject acts or is being acted upon. • ACTIVE VOICE: Kristen wrote the report (the subject, Kristen, acts). • PASSIVE VOICE: The report was written by Kristen (the subject, the report, was acted upon).

2. Active and Passive Voice • When you use the ACTIVE VOICE, you achieve greater precision when you answer who or what performs each action.

3. Active and Passive Voice • The problem with PASSIVE VOICE is that it begs this question: Who or what performed the action? • Some passive sentences quickly answer the who or what question with a prepositional phrase: The report was written by Kristen. The preposition is wordy and identifies the actor too late.

4. Active and Passive Voice To eliminate the passive voice: • Find and mark the passive voice: it always has a “to be” verb (is, are, was, were, been …) plus another verb. Example: The report was written by Kristen.

5. Active and Passive Voice To eliminate the passive voice: • Answer the question who or what does the action. Example:Kristen wrote the report.

6. Active and Passive Voice To eliminate the passive voice: • Make the answer the subject of the verb. Example: Kristen wrote the report.