Exercises

18. Use the active voice:

Directions: Rewrite the following sentences by replacing the passive voice with the active voice. By doing so, you will also eliminate needless words (Rule #17)-killing two birds with one stone. (Passive verb constructions will often lack a specific subject).

1. Jenny was selected by her team as the Most Valuable Player.

1.

2. The stage curtains were burned by the director's cigarette.

2.

3. In the morning, the clanging of the church bells could be heard.

3.

4. The reason the students failed the course was that they failed to study for the exam.

4.

5. A measure that will help a person lose weight is inhaling large doses of helium.

5.

6. One thing that can be said to have greatly improved the orchestra's violin section was the extra week of rehearsal.

6.

7. A feature of her game that has given her one victory after another in this season's tennis tournament has been her cannonball serve.

7.

8. One thing that has formed a part of her feminist beliefs was that she thought kissing should be as pleasurable for women as it is for men.

8.

9. Two things that can be said to have greatly decreased the number of salmon have been water pollution and hydroelectric dams.

9.

10. Because he has used such complicated sentences, he has made this paragraph difficult to read.

10.

11. There are too many scholars who have not made any progress in learning about the art of writing well.

11.

ANSWERS:

1. Jenny was selected by her team as the Most Valuable Player.

1. The team selected Jenny as the Most Valuable Player.

2. The stage curtains were burned by the director's cigarette.

2. The director's cigarette burned the stage curtains.

3. In the morning, the clanging of the church bells could be heard.

3. We could hear the clanging of the church bells in the morning.

4. The reason the students failed the course was that they failed to study for the exam.

4. Students failed the course because they did not study for the exam.

5. A measure that will help a person lose weight is inhaling large doses of helium.

5. Inhaling large doses of helium helps people lose weight.

6. One thing that can be said to have greatly improved the orchestra's violin section was the extra week of rehearsal.

6. The extra week of rehearsal greatly improved the orchestra's violin section.

7. A feature of her game that has given her one victory after another in this season's tennis tournament has been her cannonball serve.

7. Her cannonball serve has given her one victory after another in this season's tennis tournament .

8. One thing that has formed a part of her feminist beliefs was that she thought kissing should be as pleasurable for women as it is for men.

8.Her belief that kissing should be as pleasurable for women as it is for men formed a part of her feminist beliefs .

9. Two things that can be said to have greatly decreased the number of salmon have been water pollution and hydroelectric dams.

9. Water pollution and hydroelectric dams have greatly decreased the number of salmon.

10. Because he has used such complicated sentences, he has made this paragraph difficult to read.

10. The complicated sentences made his paragraph difficult to read.

11. There are too many scholars who have not made any progress in learning about the art of writing well.

11. Many scholars have not made any progress in learning to write well.