A sentence is in the "passive voice" when the subject is being acted upon by the verb. For example, the following sentence is in the active voice: "She ate the hamburger." She is the subject, and she ...

As an example of the passive voice I offer the following sentence: “The dog was hit by a car.” I then ask students to make it active: “A car hit the dog.” It is usually clear that the second sentence ...

As I said above, it is appropriate to use the passive voice when it clarifies your meaning. Here is an appropriate example: "In the past three decades, interest in the discipline of communication has ...

The passive voice is the marked voice ... The implication is in the \semantics. In (18), for example, the theme is required, but the agent is optional. In semantics there is always an agent, even if ...

One way to avoid using the passive voice is to look for a ‘by’ phrase. Rewrite the sentence so that the subject in the 'by' phrase is closer to the beginning of the sentence. For example ...

THE cult of the active voice is one of the most enduring in English grammar. From grade school onwards most everybody is ...

In English, there are two voices--active and passive. If the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb, the verb is said to be in the "active voice"; for example: I stopped. I bathed. The ...