PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION
WEEK 10 STYLE EXERCISES – ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE
SOME SUGGESTED ANSWERS

Exercise 1: Again, rewrite the following sentences in the active voice. You may need to invent the subject of the sentence. If you are unsure of the subject, find the verb and ask yourself 'who' or 'what' is performing the action. Invent a subject or ‘character’ if necessary. The verbs or actions are underlined. The first one is done for you.

EXPLANATION: In the following questions, the verbs were underlined. In the suggested revisions, the subjects are in bold (note, you may have any subject as long as it makes sense). In order to work out the subject, ask yourself, 'who' or 'what' is performing the action of the verb: that then becomes the subject of the sentence.

1. Copies of all sales transactions must be submitted [by whom?] at the end of each working day.

REVISION: Staff must submit copies of all sales transactions at the end of each working day.

EXPLANATION: We identified the main action (verb = submitted) and asked ‘who submitted? The answer is ‘the staff’ or any other subject that makes sense in the context. The sentence is now in the active voice and is now clearer and more direct.

2. The staff members have been informed [by whom?] they’ll work all day Saturday.

REVISION: The manager has informed staff members that they will work all day Saturday

3. The woman with the most outstanding recommendations will be offered the job by the personnel director.

REVISION: The personnel director will offer the job to the woman with the most outstanding qualifications.

4. The stationery will be delivered [by whom?] to your office by noon.

REVISION: The courier will deliver the stationery to your office by noon.

 

Exercise 2: These are a little harder. In some sentences, the main action is expressed as a noun (called a hidden verb or nominalisation: these are in bold). Turn the action back into a verb and again ask who or what is performing the action. Then put the subject towards the front of the sentence. The first one is done for you.

1. A presidential appeal was made to the American people for the conservation of gasoline.

REVISION: The President appealed to the American people to conserve gasoline.

EXPLANATION: The action is ‘to appeal’ even though it is stated as a noun (an appeal was made …) in the original sentence. Who is ‘appealing’? The answer is “the President’ which is therefore the subject of the sentence. We have also improved the sentence by changing the noun ‘conservation’ back into its verb form, “to conserve” as this is more concrete and less abstract.

2. The appearance of the candidate before the board was on June 30.

REVISION: The candidate appeared before the board on June 30.

EXPLANATION: Again in this sentence the action is contained in a noun or hidden verb ie 'appearance'. If you turn this back into its verb form, 'appeared' and then ask 'who appeared?', you get the subject of the sentence, 'the candidate'. Put this towards the beginning of the sentence and close to the verb and the sentence is now in the active voice.