ACT Preparation / Unit 4 ACT 0312 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Active or Passive
The idea
To decide between active and passive voice, work in three steps. First, find who performs the action and what receives it. Second, ask whether the doer is known and matters to the point of the sentence. Third, if so, make the doer the subject and use the active voice; if the doer is unknown, beside the point, or deliberately left unnamed, the passive can stand.
In practice
Worked example: "The new playground was designed by fifth graders, who presented their plan to the council." The fifth graders are known and are the point, so the active is stronger: "Fifth graders designed the new playground and presented their plan to the council." Second: "The fossil was found in 1921." Who found it is not given and not the point, so the passive stands.
Where people slip
Rewriting into the active sometimes requires naming a doer the passage never mentions. A choice that invents a doer adds a claim the passage does not make, and it is wrong.
Your place on the trail
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