Wikipedia: Defining "Active and Passive" voice! by Ryan S.

Wikipedia, the poor man's dictionary or all encompassing "know-it-all" on the web! Either way you look at it, there is a TON of information on that site. http://www.wikipedia.org. I have been tasked with using Wikipedia to explain Active and Passive voice, as it pertains to Wikipedia and everyone who has contributed to it.

First off, for those of you who have no idea what Wikipedia is (Where have you been?!), let me explain. It's a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation. It's a website where anyone from all over the world can post information pertaining to events, history, etc.

COOL PIC ABOUT WIKI

All you need to do is sign-up and WALL-LA! So now that we know what Wikipedia is lets continue on to the "Topic" at hand!

The following words defined by Wikipedia:

Active Voice: In grammar, the voice (also called diathesis) of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or actor of the verb, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in the passive voice.

For example, in the sentence:

The cat ate the mouse.

the verb "ate" is in the active voice, but in the sentence:

The mouse was eaten by the cat.

the verbal phrase "was eaten" is passive.

Passive Voice: In English, as in many other languages, the passive voice is a grammatical voice in which the subject receives the action of a transitive verb. Passive voice emphasizes the process rather than who is performing the action. Passive (or passive verb[1]) refers more generally to verbs using this construction and the passages in which they are used. In English, a passive verb is periphrastic; that is, it does not have a one-word form, but consists of an auxiliary verb plus the past participle of the transitive verb. The auxiliary verb usually is a form of the verb to be, but other auxiliary verbs, such as get, are sometimes used. The passive voice can be used in any number of tenses. The process of changing an active verb into a passive one is called passivization. Passivization is a valence-decreasing process, and it is sometimes referred to as a detranzitivizing process, because it changes transitive verbs intro intransitives.[2]

In the following passage from the Declaration of Independence, the passive verbs are bolded, while the active verb hold and the copulative verb are are italicized:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

One can still introduce the actor of a passive verb using a by phrase as was done in the example above. When such a phrase is missing, the construction is called an agentless passive. Agentless passives are sometimes preferred in official writing because they are less confrontational, for instance when announcing someone's firing. Agentless passives are also used in scientific writing, where they are intended to provide an objective description in terms of processes rather than people. Using an agentless passive, a scientist may write:

The mixture was heated to 300 °C.

without saying who actually did it, which is (or should be) irrelevant as far as the scientific process goes. This approach to scientific writing is not universally accepted, and some US organization, like the The Council of Biology Editors, have called for a more direct, active voice approach. Another entrenched use is the double passive construction used in American court reporting.[1]

The active voice is the dominant voice in English at large, and many commentators, notably George Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language" and Strunk & White in The Elements of Style, have urged that the use of the passive voice should be minimized. However, there is general agreement that the passive is useful when the receiver of the action is more important than the doer.[3]

In closing please note one thing, and that is that Wikipedia is free but also some of the information is not 100% accurate so please check the sources. Thank you!



References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_is_wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_Voice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Voice

Are your resources worthless? Brandon Collier

We all have had those dreadful research papers to write. You know the ones, there the ones you have to look up all the random information that you will probably just forget about the second your done writing your paper. But how do you find that information and know if it is worthy of making it into your paper? Well you’re just in time!!! I have put together a few ideas that may help you find and evaluate the material that you use in your research paper.

· Books – In general books are a great source of information. But take into consideration who wrote the book. If it is an encyclopedia or a book published by a school or library it is almost certain that you may use it. But be careful with using other books the more you read up and understand a subject the more you will know if you can trust a certain material or not.

· Internet – The internet is full of information at your fingertips. But is that information correct? Again if the information is from an encyclopedia site it is most likely okay to use. But if is from a site such as Wikipedia it is probably not what your professor or reader is looking for. Sites like Wikipedia allow anyone to put information on there.

· Journals/Newspaper – Journals and Newspapers are another great way to find information. But in doing so you have to take a few things into consideration. One thing would be the way they write. You need to know whether the writers of a certain newspaper or journal are biased in the way they present the material. If so this is probably not the best thing to use. If you do use this source you may want to say something about it in your writing.

Hopefully these few tips can help you in all of your research paper writing needs.

Citation
Lombardi, Esther. "How to Evaluate Sources". About.com. November 18, 2009 .

Here are some pointers to become a successful business writer from Daniel R

The most import advice I can give to someone trying to become a successful business writer is get to the point. You need to make your writing flow as if you were talking; by keeping it simple it makes it easy for the reader to comprehend.

One way to become successful at writing whether it is business writing or any other kind of writing is keep your work organized. I know in my work if I am not organized it is easy for the reader to know that I am not. To help organize your work your can think differently, instead of thinking of all the stuff you want to say, tell the reader what they want to know. Organization essential is another way of keeping it simple and to the point.

To me business writing is all about how you say it. There are other ways to get your point across to the reader other than being negative. Here are some tips from SyntaxTraining, "state what to do- not what to avoid", "say what you can do- not what you can't", "use neutral instead of blaming language". Being positive will come off to the reader a lot better than blaming them or being negative.

Just like in the last paragraph the writer needs to know where and when to put passive words. Knowing where to put passive words helps the writer not look intimidated or harsh. Being able to change wordy phrases into direct ones also helps keep your writing straightforward. The time to use passive phrases is when you don't know who did the action, when it doesn't matter who did the action, when your trying not to blame someone, or if you want to be less directive.

I think if you follow these steps you can be on your way to becoming a successful business writer. You need to keep your work simple and to the point, organized and easy to read, and know when to be directive or passive.



References:
http://www.syntaxtraining.com/business_writing_tips.html
http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/writing_tips/

Tips On How To Work For More Than Just Tips - By Takamasa Y and Brandon C

Here is a movie that gives you tips for your next job interview. Enjoy!