21st Century Grammar Handbook (36 page)

Passive voice forms usually add a
linking verb
element to distinguish them from the active forms in corresponding
tenses
or
moods:
“The child watches. The child is/was/will be/would have been watched.”

Generally, writing today favors the use of the active voice, since it is more conversational, more lively, and clearer. Its
clarity
comes from the fact that the active voice states the subject and object more directly and explicitly than does the passive—we know from an active sentence who did what to whom. Passive sentences are more obscure: “Pollution has not been cleaned up.” The sentence points to a condition but does not indicate who caused the pollution, who should be cleaning it up, or who should be concerned. Most writing should avoid this sort of fuzzing of cause and effect or responsibility when possible.

Some
styles,
however, rely on the passive’s veiling of subjects and objects to produce a specific effect.
Scientific language,
for instance, has often favored the passive in the belief that the absence of personal agents (subjects) makes information more objective, more verifiable. Some critics
of science and scientific style argue that the predominance of the passive voice merely hides the role of the scientist. These critics believe it is important to keep in mind that a scientist may have brought assumptions, preconceptions, prejudices, or other distorting attitudes or opinions to work that cannot be considered objective or verifiable just because it is reported in the passive voice.

Other observers of language and style have frequently pointed out that government documents commonly use the passive voice to obscure responsibility for unpopular decisions: “Taxes are being raised.” Who raised them? It is sometimes in the interests of politicians or bureaucrats to mask the source of policies or practices by using the passive voice.

The general guideline suggesting avoidance of the passive is a good one to follow. However, when circumstances call for the disappearance or masking of a subject, the passive can be a handy tool. That is, choice of voice can be a stylistic or
rhetorical
option of great value in gaining
emphasis,
variety, or other effects. The passive should be used sparingly in most situations, but at times it can be very effective.

Vowel.
The letters “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” and “u” are called “vowels” and are differentiated from
consonants
because of the way we produce their sounds when we speak. Recognizing which letters are which can be important when dividing a word into
syllables
in order to
hyphenate
it.

Wake, woke (waked), woke (waked, woken).
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms. The forms in
parentheses
are used to distinguish
transitive
from
intransitive usages
of this
verb.
The transitive sense (with an
object)
uses “wake, woke, woken”: “Chris wakes Jan” “Chris woke Jan” “Chris had woken Jan every morning.” The intransitive uses “wake, woke (or waked), waked (or woken)” and usually includes “up”: “I wake up; I woke up; I had woke [waked, woken] up.”

Waked.
See
wake.

Was.
First-person
and third-person singular
past tense
of
“be”:
“I, he/she/it was.”

Wasn’t.
This
contraction
of “was not” is not normally accepted in
standard English
writing.

Way, ways.
“Ways” is a
colloquial
form of “way” that should not appear in most formal or
standard English
writing.

Ways.
See
way.

We.
The
ftrst-person
plural
personal pronoun.

Wear, wore, worn.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Well.
See
good.

Went.
See
go.

Were.
Second-person singular and first-, second-, and third-person plural
past tense
of
“be”:
“You, we, they were.”

When, where.
Be sure that “when” refers to time, and “where” refers to place. It is wrong to use these words to designate a situation or case that does not suggest a particular time or place. WRONG: “Democracy is when the people rule.” RIGHT: “Democracy is the rule of the people.”

Where.
See
when.
Which.
See
that
and
who.

Who, whom; whoever, whomever.
Ah, the pain of choosing between “who” and “whom”! It really isn’t that hard if you remember that “who” is always and only a
subject,
and “whom” is always and only an
object:
“Who hits whom?” “Who does what to whom?” “Who is that?” “That is who?” “With whom did you talk?” “You talked with whom?”

Each of the examples uses the
pronouns
“who” and “whom” properly. The only confusing part is when “who”
appears after certain
verbs,
like
“is”
and other
linking verbs
(“appear,”
“become,”
and so on). The right choice is “who” because linking verbs do not have objects; they have
subject complements
(also called
“predicate
nominatives”). Subject complements are in the same form (and
case)
as subjects.

A further confusion arises when “who” or “whoever” is the subject of a
clause.
Since clauses can themselves be the
objects
of other things (like
prepositions),
the correct subject form of “who” might look odd in what seems to be a place that requires an object: “Give the bat to whoever is up next.” “Whoever” is correct here because it is the subject of “is up” and not the object of “to.” The whole clause “whoever is up next” is the object of “to,” but “whoever” plays a role within that clause that requires it to be in the subject form
{nominative
case). “To whom do I give the bat?” “To whoever is up next.”

In everyday speech or writing, the grammatical distinction between “who” and “whom” is weakening and even becoming a sign of pretension. “Who is that for?” sounds right, while “For whom is that?” might get an odd look, even though it is technically correct because “whom” is the object of “for.” Of course, if your everyday circle of friends or
audience
is made up of English professors, then the first example might be worse than the second. Similarly, in all formal writing, it is important to maintain the
standard English
usage and observe the grammatical
rules.
Just how far speech or writing can deviate and still be comprehensible and acceptable is a matter for each speaker or writer to judge. See also
grammar, usage,
and
style.

Note also that “who” refers to people, whereas “which” refers to things.

Whoever.
See
who.

Whom.
See
who.

Whomever.
See
who.

Who’s, whose.
“Who’s” is a
contraction
of “who is.” “Whose” is a
possessive
pronoun that modifies a
noun,
at least implicitly: “Whose house is this?” “Whose is it?” See also
pronoun
and
modifier.

Whose.
See
who’s.

Will.
See
shall.

Win, won, won.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Wind, wound, wound.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

With.
A
preposition
governing the
objective case:
“I went with them.”

Without.
A
preposition
governing the
objective case:
“We’ll have to manage without them.”

Woke.
See
wake.

Woken.
See
wake.

Won.
See
win.

Worse, worst.
The comparative and
superlative
of
“bad”
and “badly” and “ill.” See also
comparison.

Worst.
See
worse, bad, ill,
and
superlative.

Wound.
See
wind.

Write, wrote, written.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Written.
See
write.

Wrote.
See
write.

You.
Second-person
singular and plural
personal pronoun.
See also
number.

Your, you’re.
Although these words sound alike
(homonyms),
“your” is a
possessive
pronoun that modifies a
noun:
“How is your dog?” “You’re” is a
contraction
of “you are.” See also
pronoun
and
modifier.

You’re.
See
your.

Yourself.
See-
self.

Zero.
This
number
should usually be written out in text, but its corresponding figure (“0”) can be used if the
emphasis
of the writing is on the numerical amount: “The accountant’s instructions read, ‘If the remainder is 0 to 50 cents, round down to the dollar.’ ”

Adjectives
comparison
-er
-est
many
modifier
more, most
much
neither
phrase
predicate adjective prepositional phrase real
superlative

Adverbs
awkwardness
conjunctive adverb
dangling modifier
hopefully
however
intensifier
-ly
maybe modifier
prepositional phrase
really
revision
sometime
sometimes
sort of
split infinitive then

Case
objective possessive subjective (nominative)

Conjunctions
and
after
also
although as
because
before
beside
both … and
but
clause
conjunctive adverb coordinating conjunction emphasis for
however if
moreover namely
neither … nor nevertheless not only … but also
or
parallelism since
so
so that than that when

Gender
agreement
case
he/she
man, mankind
Ms., Miss, Mrs.
names
salutation
sexist language
she/he
titles

Indefinite articles
a, an
British English modifier

Interjection
adverb emphasis however oh
parentheses

Languages
accent Arabic
Asian languages
French
German
Japanese
Latin
punctuation
Russian
Spanish
spelling

Modifiers
adjective
adverb
comparison
dangling modifier
good
misplaced modifier well

Mood
imperative
indicative
subjunctive

Negatives
double negative
misplaced modifier
no
nobody
none
not
nothing

Noun
agreement
capitalization
case
collective noun
common noun
declension
gender gerund
’II
names
noun clause
noun phrase
number
object
person
plural
possessive
predicate noun
proper nouns
subject
subject complement
title

Numbers
cardinal number
dates
fractions
one
ordinal number
percent
zero

Parts of a sentence
agent
antecedent
appositive clause
direct object
expletive
fragment
indirect object
list
nonrestrictive clause
nonrestrictive phrase
object
phrase
predicate
predicate adjective
predicate noun
restrictive clause
restrictive phrase
series
subject
subject complement
subordination

Parts of speech
adjective
adverb
conjunction
interjection
noun
preposition
pronoun
verb

Prepositions
about
above
across
after
against
along
among
as
at
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
beyond
by
down
during
for
from
in
into
like
of
off
on
onto
out
prepositional phrase
since
through
toward
under
up
with
without

Pronouns
agreement
antecedent
anybody
appositive
case
collective pronoun
declension
demonstrative pronoun
each
everyone
everything
he, him, his
he/she
I
indefinite pronoun
inflection
intensifier
intensive pronoun
interrogative pronoun
it
’ll
me, myself
modifier
more
neither
nobody
none
no one
nothing
one
person
personal pronoun
plural
possessive
reciprocal pronoun
reflexive pronoun
relative pronoun
-self
several
she/he, her/him
she, her, hers
some
somebody
someone
something
that
their
them
they
’ve
we
who
whoever
whom
whomever
whose
you
your