Читать книгу Collins Good Grammar - Graham King - Страница 16

All sentences are either active or passive, and it is up to the user to decide which ‘voice’ to use. This voice is not something you hear, by the way; it is rather a point of view. The voice of a sentence is the kind of verbal inflection used to express whether the subject acts (active voice) or is acted upon (passive voice). Here are a few examples of both:

• ACTIVE	The favourite won the 3.30 hurdle event.
	Her boyfriend bought the ring.
	Very few can appreciate his paintings.
• PASSIVE	The 3.30 hurdle event was won by the favourite.
	The ring was bought by her boyfriend.
	His paintings can be appreciated by very few.

Even a cursory glance at these sentences tell you that active sentences are more direct, lively and interesting than passive sentences, which tend to be detached and impersonal – ancient history, as some would have it. Generally, we use the active voice almost exclusively in our everyday speech and writing, while the passive voice is reserved mostly for technical, scientific and academic writing.

Being aware of the roles of active and passive voice in sentences helps to avoid mixing them – a topic discussed a little later (see Harmony in the Sentence, page 41).