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The Voice Check
Four switches, four positions, none of them default.
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Four switches. No default position.
Learner repairs a paragraph that over-uses the passive and one that needed a passive and did not use it.
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The chapter assembled, the two directions, and the one thing never to count.
The decision was taken. Concerns were raised. The plan was dropped.
1 What is each passive doing?
nothing
2 Does the paragraph hold
one subject? no
3 Agent named where needed?
no
4 Does anyone act? no
✓ The board took the decision and dropped the plan after staff raised concerns.
Four switches, four positions, none of them default.
Four switches. No default position.
Four repairs. Two convert, one introduces, one adds an agent.
1. Paragraph about the mayor. The decision was taken by the mayor in March.
What is this passive doing? The sentence fails at question . Repaired: took the decision in March.
2. Paragraph about a scheme. The city introduced the scheme in 2019. Officials extended it twice.
Does the paragraph hold one subject? The passage fails at question . Repaired second sentence: extended twice.
3. Argument about which firms broke the rules. The rules were broken repeatedly.
Is the agent named? The sentence fails at question . Repaired: The rules were broken repeatedly .
4. Argument that the council failed residents. The consultation was shortened and the objections were set aside.
Does anyone act in this? The passage fails at question . Repaired first clause: the consultation.
Two paragraphs, opposite faults. Nothing says which.
Paragraph A — an argument about how a council handled a closure.
(1) The decision was taken by the council in March. →
(2) The consultation was shortened. →
(3) Objections were received from four community groups. →
(4) The libraries were closed in June. →
(5) A legal challenge was launched by residents in September. →
Paragraph B — about the congestion charge itself.
(6) The city introduced the congestion charge in 2003. →
(7) Officials raised it twice in its first decade. →
(8) Four other cities have since copied the scheme. →
(9) Two of those cities abandoned their schemes within three years. →
(10) The charge remains in place today. →
A body paragraph about a policy, reported by fault.
Prompt: some governments charge drivers to enter city centres. Is this a fair way to reduce congestion?
Write five sentences as one body paragraph.
Nothing here tells you which voice to use where.
One paragraph.
What were you told before this chapter? Does it still hold?