Chapter 4: The Passive As A Choice

concepts · 7

1. 01

   Sprint 4.1: What The Passive Actually Does

   Learner states what the passive changes — the subject, not the formality — and converts between the two voices without changing the facts.

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2. 02

   Sprint 4.2: Keeping The Subject Across A Paragraph

   Learner uses the passive to hold one participant in the subject position across several sentences, which is the main reason academic writing uses it at all.

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3. 03

   Sprint 4.3: Naming The Agent, Or Not

   Learner includes a by-phrase when the agent is part of the claim and omits it when it is not, and recognises the agentless passive used to avoid responsibility.

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4. 04

   Sprint 4.4: The Passive That Should Have Been Active

   Learner converts back to the active where the passive serves no purpose, and can name the purpose in the cases where it stays.

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5. 05

   Sprint 4.5: It Is Argued That

   Learner uses impersonal reporting structures to attribute a view without naming a source, and knows what that costs in an argument.

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6. 06

   Sprint 4.6: A Paragraph Without Actors

   Learner audits a paragraph for who is doing things, and restores agency where the argument depends on it.

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7. 07

   Sprint 4.7: Chapter Repair — Voice, Unmarked

   Learner repairs a paragraph that over-uses the passive and one that needed a passive and did not use it.

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