Lectures
- 1. January 25, 2019 Passive voice lecture- One of two voices are used in English grammar, passive or active. When your professors or readers tell you “don’t use ‘passive voice” they’re most likely saying “be more direct and concise.” This is because the passive voice delays the action of the subject. Active voice is used when the subject performs the action stated by the verb. For example: Tom changed the flat tire. Passive voice is used when the subject is acted upon by the verb. For example: The tire was changed by Tom. (A noun is a person, place, or thing. A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.) These are some words to look for if you’re concerned you’ve gone into passive voice. • A • Are • Be • Being • By • Has been • Have been • Is • Was • Were • Will be These words aren’t always passive words though. To check, take out the word in question. If the sentence doesn’t make sense without the word, it’s not a
- 2. passive sentence. If the sentence can be reworded with the subject first, it’s passive. So why is this a big deal. Like I said before, passive voice delays or hides what or who the subject is. It’s not always grammatically incorrect to use the passive voice though. In fact, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Sherlock Holmes’ author, frequently used the passive voice. But doesn’t this fit for the mystery genre? In creative writing it’s not taboo anymore. But there are different kinds of writing, well, it’s more like a spectrum- creative writing to technical writing— Creative, academic, professional, business, technical. In everything but creative writing, it’s better to get to the point. There are narrative elements, but prolonging the plot isn’t something you want to do outside of novels. Direct and concise language is what I’ll be looking for in your essays. I think some professors hound this so much because using passive voice is a way to make things wordier, and they tend to think the student writer is just trying to get word count. I tend to think that student writers slip into passive voice because of its wordiness, which makes them sound smarter. They feel they don’t have a good grasp of the subject they’re presenting in their essay, so they fake a ‘smart voice.’ Which turns out to be passive most of the time. To counteract this…RESEARCH! But also, honesty and openness. I want to hear what you have to say on the subject, and I already know you’re not an expert.
- 3. January 28, 2019 Things that will help you write this essay UNIT ONE (From the slide-doc reading on bbLearn (Unit One Links)) Narration- keep your personal story with its description, characters, and plot in the essay. This is about your connection to the topic and problem Keeping the Problem Alive- This might feel counterintuitive, but it’s not. This text book puts emphasis on solution, but don’t define solution in a strict ‘this is the only way’ sense. By unit 4 you will have your own conclusion to the problem, but for now, just start exploring potential conclusions. Exploration Shows Critical Engagement- Use both your narrative and sources to create tension between views. For example, my topic was pets, and the problem I’ve been researching is if owning pets is ethical. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/01/should-we-stop- keeping-pets-why-more-and-more-ethicists-say-yes this article says ‘yes it is’ https://www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/pets/ this article says ‘yes, if’ https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/animal-rights-means-no-dogs-and- cats/ this article says ‘no way in hell’ As I explore these answers, writing them in contrast to each other creates tension for the reader. Additionally, when you intertwine your personal narrative, your own experiences will also add tension.