i * Writing English; using active and passive * Explaining sentence structure in English * English Grammar: phrase, clause, sentence, conjunctions * Resources

Why is it important in a language to have both an active and a passive voice? Consider the following:

‘There was a large anti-war demonstration this afternoon in London. Demonstrators assembled in Trafalgar Square, where several of their leaders addressed the crowd. They then marched towards the Ruritanian embassy.’

Here is a news story about a demonstration. Part of this story is the claim by demonstrators that the police beat them, causing severe head injuries to one student.

‘Some of the demonstrators attempted to force their way into the embassy. The police resisted them, later chased them away and, so the demonstrators claim, beat some of them savagely.’

The problem here is that we are obliged to switch the focus of our attention from the demonstrators – whose story we are telling – to the police.

BUT, by using the passive, we can keep our attention fixed on the demonstrators, even though the story changes from what they did to what was done to them:

‘Some of the demonstrators attempted to force their way into the embassy. This attempt was resisted by the police. The demonstrators were chased away and then, so they claim, some of them were savagely beaten.’

Putting the two pieces of text together, we have a continuous narrative, told from the demonstrator’s point of view (note ‘addressed’ also becomes passive):

‘There was a large anti-war demonstration this afternoon in London. Demonstrators assembled in Trafalgar Square, where the crowd was addressed by several of their leaders. They then marched towards the Ruritanian embassy. Some of the demonstrators attempted to force their way into the embassy. This attempt was resisted by the police. The demonstrators were chased away and then, so they claim, some of them were savagely beaten.’

‘Carrots require a deep, well-worked soil containing well-rotted compost. They should be sown out of doors in April, once the soil has warmed up a little. The soil must be kept moist during germination, and once the carrots are 3-4 centimetres high, they should be thinned, in order to prevent them being too crowded. The rows should be 30cms apart and should be kept hoed. Carrots must be weeded carefully, also, or they will become choked with weeds and will not be able to grow.’

What do carrots actively do? They grow. Everything else is done to – either to the carrots, the soil, or the other unwanted plants that also grow (weeds). It is done by gardeners, of course, but we (writer and reader) know that. Our focus is not on the gardener but on the carrots – and what to do to make sure that they grow.

The passive gives us a second and even a third point of view. Given the three elements above, and the passive voice, I can talk about what happened either to the teacher, the student, or the homework:

The students, who were already angry about not having enough free time, were given extra homework by the new teacher.

The homework, which was about the properties of superconductors, was successfully completed by only two students.

In every case, the action is carried out by the teacher. But the point of view does NOT have to stay with the teacher.

Here is another example of the third point of view: that of things, such as the carrots or homework above. Consider this:

First, the onions are browned in a little olive oil. The mushrooms, carrots, broccoli and peppers, finely chopped, are then added. All the vegetables are left to cook slowly on a low heat, after being seasoned with bay leaves, thyme and a little basil. The beans, which will be added next, should have been pre-cooked for one hour…

In a recipe such as this, the star performers – those who hold the centre of attention – are the ingredients used in the recipe. The person explaining the recipe and the people for whom it is intended are not the main focus of attention. The instructions focus on how the ingredients are to be dealt with.

Every type of instruction – such as those for assembling furniture, getting gadgets ready for use, electrical wiring etc etc – focuses on things, as does description of every kind of process: industrial ones for example. Furthermore, this is the language used to describe scientific and medical research, archaeology, art – wherever, in fact, we need to talk about inanimate objects and what happens, is done or should ( instructions) be done to them.

Explaining sentence structure in English

In order to complete successfully the exercise on clause, phrase and sentence, we need to understand how a typical sentence is structured in English. This is often explained as being based on subject, verb and object, in that order.

The verb can be one word or more, depending on whether or not there is an auxiliary or supporting verb. The verb says what the action is:

Ate walks is sleeping will not open has taken

Before this verb, a subject must be placed. This is the person or thing which is the author of the action – the one doing whatever it is:

Lion father girl Prince She

The subject is a noun, but is often accompanied by other words - ‘determiners’ such as this, my, the, some and so on, and / or adjectives like tall, happy etc.

The lion my father the little girl The Prince of Wales

The subject can also be a pronoun, which is a word used instead of a noun: She, it, they etc

Combining the two, we get

The lion ate My father walks The little girl is sleeping The Prince of Wales will not open She has taken

Notice that one of these combinations - The little girl is sleeping. – is already finished. It does not need an object. The verb sleep is one of those which we call ‘intransitive’ – it is not followed by an object.

Three of the other verbs are transitive: The lion ate… who? Or what?….

The lion ate the tourist. The Prince of Wales will not open the new swimming pool. She has taken a holiday.

Tourist, swimming pool and holiday are the answers to the question: who or what was the answer done to? Who or what was the recipient of the action. These words are objects of the verbs ‘ate’, ‘will not open’ and ‘has taken’ respectively.

My father walks by the sea every day.

In this case, walk is also intransitive – there is normally no object of the verb walk. In fact, in one case there can be: My father walks the dog twice a day. In this special case, question: walks who or what? – answer: walks the dog.

So, a sentence with an intransitive verb can be complete when it has a subject and a verb:

Paul fell over. The ghost appeared. I became very frightened.

(In the last case, very frightened refers back to the subject – I – and is what we call a complement.)

On the other hand, a sentence with a transitive verb must have subject, verb AND object to be complete:

Maria writes books. The boy bought a bicycle. Tom doesn’t like fruit.

A phrase has no verb, so one or more phrases cannot make a sentence:

Behind the door in our kitchen…

This is unfinished, and a sentence is a finished idea:

Behind the door in our kitchen there is a dishwasher.

Again, a sentence with a conjunction added is turned into a clause:

It was four o’clock in the morning. – sentence

Although it was four o’clock in the morning – clause, beginning with the conjunction ‘although’.[this piece of language is now incomplete.]

I couldn’t sleep, although it was four o’clock in the morning. – sentence with two clauses: I couldn’t sleep; it was four o’clock in the morning, now complete again.

Note that: ‘I couldn’t sleep’ can be a sentence on its own – its meaning is complete – see also the ‘main and subordinate clauses’ explanation file.

Conclusion

In order to create a sentence, you must have one complete idea. With an intransitive verb, this requires only subject and verb, with a transitive one, an object is also needed.

The normal word order for positive or negative statements (but not questions) in English is: subject, verb, object.

In questions, an auxiliary verb is needed and the subject is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb:

Did the lion eat the tourist? Is the little girl sleeping? Has she taken a holiday?

Explaining sentence structure in English

In order to complete successfully the exercise on clause, phrase and sentence, we need to understand how a typical sentence is structured in English. This is often explained as being based on subject, verb and object, in that order.

English grammar: phrase, clause, sentence and conjunctions