GEB 3213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Active Voice, Gerund, Concision
24 Jan 2018
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The dog bit the man --- active voice. Active voice is more concise that passive voice. Use the zombie test to decide whether a sentence is passive or active voice. Write by zombies after the action ex: the dog bit by zombies the man doesn"t make sense = active ex: the man was bitten by zombies by the dog makes sense = passive. Prefer active verbs to passive verbs (or nominalizations) Meaning use a verb that you can imagine happening, that people can visualize. Prefer concrete subjects to dummy subjects, vague pronouns, and abstract subjects. Dummy subjects = this is, there are, it is. Don"t start a sentence with this or these (unless adding the subject after it) Abstract subjects are subjects that don"t technically exist. Ex: the university of florida did instead of a specific person. Prefer active verbs to passive verbs and nominalizations, and; Prefer concrete subjects to abstract subjects, dummy subjects, and vague pronouns.
