Welcome to the MLP Arena!
Site Announcements Arena Tutorials Sigs & Site Support Introductions Pony Corral Swap Talk! Pony Fairs! MLP Nirvana Nirvana Sales Pony Brag Arena Off Topic Dollhouse Toy Box & Games Cupboard Customs Custom Sales Arts & Crafts Corral Adoptables For Sale - For Auction For Trade Wanted Trader & Classifieds Support What's Your Problem Private Messages Contact Us!
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
I feel ya on the tenses! When I write, I always get them switched up! My crazy 12th grade English teacher wanted to nearly kill our whole class because of this. The trick my teacher taught me for passive/active voice is EXTREMELY simple. If you can insert the phrase "by zombies" after the verb and it makes sense, it's passive voice. For example: Twilight was chased (by zombies). <-- makes sense, so passive A monster chased (by zombies) her. <-- doesn't make sense, so activeMore examples: “A great time was had (by zombies) …” Yep, passive.“We had (by zombies) a great time …” Nope, that was active.“You’re invited (by zombies) to stop in and visit soon.” Passive.“We invite (by zombies) you to stop in and visit soon.” Active.I hope this helps!
The bad habit that I'm really struggling with right now is that I lapse into a passive voice when I want to be writing in an active voice. It's a really lousy habit, and I do it constantly. The problem is, I have a hard time distinguishing between the active and passive voice for some reason, so I don't even realize when I do it and I have trouble seeing it even when I revise.
Quote from: okamigirl64 on June 29, 2015, 06:18:29 PMI feel ya on the tenses! When I write, I always get them switched up! My crazy 12th grade English teacher wanted to nearly kill our whole class because of this. The trick my teacher taught me for passive/active voice is EXTREMELY simple. If you can insert the phrase "by zombies" after the verb and it makes sense, it's passive voice. For example: Twilight was chased (by zombies). <-- makes sense, so passive A monster chased (by zombies) her. <-- doesn't make sense, so activeMore examples: “A great time was had (by zombies) …” Yep, passive.“We had (by zombies) a great time …” Nope, that was active.“You’re invited (by zombies) to stop in and visit soon.” Passive.“We invite (by zombies) you to stop in and visit soon.” Active.I hope this helps!I've had this problem too. Thank you so much for sharing this tip!