Passive voice query

Question

This is from my 8 year old son's English homework sheet - he has to write an explanation of something, and apparently one of the key features he has to use is:

"Passive voice - just state the explanation. You are not trying to persuade or describe in great details"

That isn't my understanding of what the passive voice is, but before I go in and complain to his teacher, I just want to check that the meaning hasn't changed in the last 20 years or so since I left school!

Thanks in advance for any help.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I really don't understand this instruction, either.

Passive voice is a construction where the object of the verb becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence, and the actor (who performed the action of the verb) may either be omitted, or used in a prepositional phrase with "by".

eg.
John kicked the dog. (active voice)
The dog was kicked by John. (passive voice)

Passive voice is frequently used in academic contexts: eg.: The experiment was repeated three times with encouraging results.

In business writing, and perhaps in journalism, passive voice has been a bit disparaged. The actual actor can be mysterious, unknown, leaving the reader to guess or assume who or what did the action:

Soft secrets were whispered in the side streets.
The Queen was entertained last night.

Anonymous · Answer

AlpheccaStarsPassive voice is a construction where the object of the verb becomes the grammatical subject of the sentence, and the actor (who performed the action of the verb) may either be omitted, or used in a prepositional phrase with "by".

Thanks! You have confirmed exactly what I understood the passive voice to be - I think I need to go in and have a word with the teacher, because if he doesn't understand it, then I am a little concerned.

Thanks again for your help

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous"Passive voice - just state the explanation. You are not trying to persuade or describe in great details"

There may have been a problem in printing the instructions.

If not, then I don't think we can take the quoted text above as a definition of "Passive voice". On the contrary, it is an instruction about what to do with the term "Passive voice", namely to explain it, but not necessarily in great detail.

The expected response for an eight-year-old might be something as vague as:

Passive voice is when a sentence is presented in a sort of reverse order. The thing acted on is stated first, and the person who performs the action is stated at the end after the word "by", for example, "The ball was thrown by John" instead of "John threw the ball".

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimIf not, then I don't think we can take the quoted text above as a definition of "Passive voice". On the contrary, it is an instruction about what to do with the term "Passive voice", namely to explain it, but not necessarily in great detail.

No, it's definitely the teacher's definition of Passive Voice. The homework was to write an explanation of something (eg how to use an iPod, what is the offside rule, how to solve a maths problem) that they could deliver to the class. He outlined 6 key features of an explanation text, with a brief definition of each. Eg:

Diagram - use a diagram to help the reader understand the text.
Cause and Effect - if you do something what should happen.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousit's definitely the teacher's definition of Passive Voice.

I find it impossible to agree with this. The words below begin with a command. There is no definition in any dictionary or anywhere else that begins with a command. This cannot be a definition (of anything).

"just state the explanation. You are not trying to persuade or describe in great detail"
___________

I believe a mistake was made in formatting up this instruction sheet. The student is to explain something of his choice and is to use the passive voice somewhere within this explanation, or maybe as much as possible. How much is unclear.

Had the teacher proofread his instructions more carefully before distributing them to the students, none of this confusion would have occurred, and the instruction sheet might have had a short description or definition of passive voice, which it is obviously missing in its current state.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimI believe a mistake was made in formatting up this instruction sheet. The student is to explain something of his choice and is to use the passive voice somewhere within this explanation, or maybe as much as possible. How much is unclear.

Sorry, but I believe you are wrong. It isn't a good definition, or a correct one, but it is the teacher's definition (or maybe explanation is a better choice of word).

Another one of the 'key features' that he needs to use in this explanation text is: "Vocabulary - Make sure the vocabulary is appropriate to the topic being explained."

As you can see, this is also a command rather than a definition.

Another feature listed is: "Present tense - It makes sense as you are doing it then. " - I'm not sure what that is. It isn't a definition or a command, it's just a stream of words that he has typed without any real thought.

This explanation is to be delivered verbally, to children who are younger than my son. If he really wants it to be delivered in the passive voice, then I think that would sound very odd and quite unnatural. I am going to clarify the matter with my son's teacher - I expect to be proven right in that he doesn't actually understand what is meant by Passive Voice but either way, it is a badly worded homework sheet, and causes me concern.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI am going to clarify the matter with my son's teacher - I expect to be proven right in that he doesn't actually understand what is meant by Passive Voice but either way, it is a badly worded homework sheet, and causes me concern.

I think you're doing the right thing in approaching the teacher, and I agree that it's badly worded and a cause for concern.

CJ

Passive voice query

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