Nama : Fanzi Nalar Prasetia
NPM : 15209431
Kelas : 4EA14
PASSIVE
VOICE
Verbs
are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the
new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive
committee) in voice. In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward:
the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the
passive voice, the subject of
the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy
was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice
construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active
construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if
you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below).
Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions
tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.
We
find an overabundance of the passive voice in sentences created by
self-protective business interests, magniloquent educators, and bombastic
military writers (who must get weary of this accusation), who use the passive
voice to avoid responsibility for actions taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were
designed to appeal especially to children" places the burden on the ads —
as opposed to "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to
children," in which "we" accepts responsibility. At a White
House press briefing we might hear that "The President was advised that
certain members of Congress were being audited" rather than "The Head
of the Internal Revenue service advised the President that her agency was
auditing certain members of Congress" because the passive construction
avoids responsibility for advising and for auditing. One further caution about
the passive voice: we should not mix active and passive constructions in the
same sentence: "The executive committee approved the new policy, and the
calendar for next year's meetings was revised" should be recast as
"The executive committee approved the new policy and revised the calendar
for next year's meeting".
Take the quiz
(below) as an exercise in recognizing and changing passive verbs.
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not
always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in
two situations:
- When it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck during the early morning hours.
- When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.
- The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
- We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
- The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
- The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.†
- The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
- We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
- The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.
PASSIVE
VERB FORMATION
The passive
forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb"
with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also
sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee."
The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the
passive forms of "design".
Tense
|
Subject
|
Auxiliary
|
Past Participle
|
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|||
Present
|
The car/cars
|
is
|
are
|
designed.
|
Present perfect
|
The car/cars
|
has been
|
have been
|
designed.
|
Past
|
The car/cars
|
was
|
were
|
designed.
|
Past perfect
|
The car/cars
|
had been
|
had been
|
designed.
|
Future
|
The car/cars
|
will be
|
will be
|
designed.
|
Future perfect
|
The car/cars
|
will have been
|
will have been
|
designed.
|
Present progressive
|
The car/cars
|
is being
|
are being
|
designed.
|
Past progressive
|
The car/cars
|
was being
|
were being
|
designed.
|
A sentence cast in the passive voice will not
always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla
crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla."
But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was
crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast
in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive
sentence:
Active
|
Professor Villa gave Jorge an
A.
|
Passive
|
An A was given to Jorge by
Professor Villa.
|
Passive
|
Jorge was given an A.
|
Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can
be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences
containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To
have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new
car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say
"Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was
lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs:
resemble
|
look like
|
equal
|
agree with
|
|
mean
|
contain
|
hold
|
comprise
|
|
lack
|
suit
|
fit
|
become
|
VERBALS IN PASSIVE STRUCTURES
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features
of the passive voice. An infinitive
phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions
within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).
- Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.
- Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.
Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected
governor in her own right.
The same is true of passive gerunds.
- Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.
- Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.
- Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.
With passive participles,
part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple
modifying participial phrase.
- [
Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways.
Sumber : http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm
