Worksheet: Active and Passive Voice, Transitions, Context Clues

Which sentence is written in the active voice?

• The student’s stress was reduced by the new policy.

• Principal Petronella Sirkka came up with the radical idea.

• National examinations are mandated by the Swedish government.

• Homework was banned by the school in Montreal.

How can you change this sentence to the active voice? "A 2014 study was conducted by Stanford University on 4,000 students".

• 4,000 students were studied by Stanford University.

• Stanford University conducted a study on 4,000 students in 2014.

• In 2014, a study of 4,000 students occurred at Stanford.

• Conducting a study on 4,000 students was done by Stanford.

In the sentence "Learning today is all about reflection," why is this voice effective?

• It uses passive voice to hide the subject.

• It uses active voice to place emphasis on the action of learning.

• It uses a linking verb to define the current state of education.

• It is passive because "reflection" is the object.

Identify the passive voice sentence below:

• Finnish students rank high in math and science.

• Parents spend extra time reading to their children.

• Students were treated to a month free of tests.

• Educators follow the lead of the Nordic countries.

Which of the following would make a claim sound most authoritative in a Socratic Seminar?

• "It is believed by some that homework is bad."

• "The data suggests that homework causes physical ailments".

• "Headaches are often caused by after-school work".

• "A decision was made by the principal to stop testing".

Rewrite to Active: "The material is often found hard to comprehend by kids".

• Comprehending material is hard for kids.

• Kids often find the material hard to comprehend.

• Material is found to be hard.

• Hard material is comprehended by kids.

Why might an author choose passive voice?

• To make the writing more energetic and direct.

• To emphasize the person performing the action.

• To emphasize the receiver of the action or the action itself.

• To always ensure the sentence is shorter.

Which sentence correctly uses active voice to cite evidence?

• Evidence was provided by the PISA chart.

• The PISA chart shows that Finland has the highest mean test scores.

• High scores were shown on the chart for Canada.

• The lead was followed by US educators.

True or False: "Finland has done away with homework" is in the active voice.

• True

• False

Change this to Passive Voice: "The experiment proved successful in Finland".

• Finland proved the experiment successful.

• The experiment was proved successful in Finland.

• Success was found by the experiment.

• In Finland, they proved the experiment.