Friday, November 1, 2013

ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE

Write two sentences using the word steal. 

Use the active voice for the first sentence, and the passive voice for the second.

6 comments:

Sarahba50 (155) said...

A. She decided to steal the pink lipstick.

B. The pink lipstick is what she decided to steal.

Yosua ENGL155 said...


A thief stole my mom´s purse.

My mom´s purse was stolen by a thief.

Sarahba50 (155) said...

Yousa -- your sentences make more sense than mine. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to change the verb tense or not.

Sarahba50 (155) said...

I am pregnant, due in less than three weeks. Every night I wake up to use the bathroom and have trouble falling asleep. Random things run through my mind and last night was no exception; I was plagued by my original response to this post, so I'm giving it another try!

Active: The coach told him to steal second base.

Passive: The steal was successful.

Michael said...

Good effort, everyone, and an excellent learning opportunity!

Sarahba50,

Your first sentence is fine.

In the second sentence of your first post, however, the verb is still in the active voice.

In the second sentence of your second post, "steal" is no longer a verb; you have made it a noun.

Also, that sentence is not in the passive voice. In this case, "was" acts as a copula or linking verb.

Sarahba50 (155) said...

So is it ok to change the verb tense then? Could you provide an example of passive voice that uses the word steal without changing the tense? This was a good challenge!