Some lectures from Unit 1

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.