3_PassiveActive
Short Summary:
This lecture introduces the difference between active and passive voice in writing, focusing on its application in scientific writing. Key points include the structure of active (subject-verb-object) and passive (object-verb-subject) sentences, how passive voice can obscure responsibility and clarity, and how active voice improves readability and emphasizes author responsibility. Examples used include sentences about driving a car, throwing a ball, and making mistakes, demonstrating how to convert between active and passive voice. The lecture emphasizes the importance of clear, concise writing in science, advocating for active voice to enhance understanding and avoid ambiguity. The process of identifying and converting passive sentences to active ones is detailed, with specific examples from scientific writing and a classic style guide ("The Elements of Style" by Strunk & White) used for illustration.
Detailed Summary:
The lecture is divided into several sections:
1. Introduction to Active and Passive Voice: The lecture begins by defining active and passive voice. Active voice follows the subject-verb-object structure (e.g., "She drives the car"), while passive voice reverses this or omits the subject (e.g., "The car was driven"). The instructor emphasizes that active voice is more natural and easier to understand.
2. Examples of Active and Passive Voice: Several examples are provided to illustrate the difference. Sentences like "Amanda throws the ball" and "I made mistakes" are given as examples of active voice, while their passive counterparts ("The ball was thrown by Amanda," "Mistakes were made") are shown to be less clear and more awkward. The instructor highlights how passive voice can obscure responsibility, using "Mistakes were made" as an example where the responsible party is unclear.
3. Identifying Passive Voice: The lecture explains how to identify passive voice by looking for a form of the "to be" verb (is, are, was, were, etc.) paired with a past participle of a transitive verb. The instructor emphasizes that the verb must be transitive (requiring an object). Examples are provided to illustrate this point.
4. Awkwardness and Ambiguity of Passive Voice: The instructor demonstrates how passive voice can create awkward and ambiguous sentences. An example from "The Elements of Style" ("My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me") is used to show how rephrasing into active voice ("I will always remember my first visit to Boston") improves clarity and naturalness. The example of cigarette ads ("Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children") is used to illustrate how passive voice can obscure responsibility.
5. Advantages of Active Voice: Three main advantages of active voice are presented: it emphasizes author responsibility, improves readability, and reduces ambiguity. Examples are given to demonstrate how switching to active voice clarifies who performed an action and makes the sentence more straightforward. The example of a decrease in algal growth is used to show how active voice clarifies cause and effect. Another example involving coral mortality rates and crabs further illustrates this point.
6. Author Responsibility and Active Voice: The lecture uses the example, "No attempt was made to contact non-responders because they were deemed unimportant to the analysis," to show how passive voice obscures responsibility. By changing it to "We did not attempt to contact non-responders because we deemed them unimportant to the analysis," the author takes responsibility for the decision.
7. Readability and Active Voice: An example sentence ("A strong correlation was found between the use of passive voice and other sins of writing") is used to demonstrate how active voice improves readability and conciseness. The sentence is progressively revised to become shorter and more direct.
8. Ambiguity and Active Voice: The example of a car commercial ("The Jeep Cherokee was the most awarded SUV in 2019") is used to illustrate how passive voice can create ambiguity. The active voice version clarifies the meaning.
9. Use of Personal Pronouns (I, We): The instructor addresses the common misconception that personal pronouns should be avoided in scientific writing. They argue that using "we" or "I" is acceptable and even preferable in many cases, as it clarifies responsibility and makes the writing more engaging. A quote from a 1957 paper in Science is used to support this point.
10. Passive Voice in Methods Sections: The lecture concludes by acknowledging that passive voice might be appropriate in the methods section of a scientific paper, where the process is often more important than the actor. However, the instructor still encourages the use of active voice whenever possible for clarity and conciseness. The lecture ends with a call to complete practice exercises provided by the instructor.