Active Verbsby Mitch Perry and Lauren Burton

What Are Active Verbs?

• Come immediately after the subject of the sentence and specifically describe what the subject is doing

• Good action verbs can compress multiple words into a more specific one– Ex. “The biker moved more quickly toward the finish

line.” -vs.- “The biker accelerated toward the finish line.”

• Active verbs provide a direct form of writing– More professional, precise– Better GRADES!!

Active Voice

• Active Sentence Format:– [Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving

action] – Ex. “I threw the ball.”

• Passive Sentence Format:– [Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle

of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action] – Ex. “The ball was thrown by me.”

• The ice cream was eaten while the children were waiting for the park to open. The children ate the ice cream while waiting for the park to open.

• The corpse was moved from the murder scene sometime between Sunday night and Monday afternoon. The murderer moved the corpse from the murder scene sometime

between Sunday night and Monday afternoon.• The question was answered by the class clown before the serious

students had a chance at it. The class clown answered the question before the serious students

had a chance at it.• Fermentation was begun when the sugar was added to the fruit juice.

When Sandra added sugar to the fruit juice, the fermentation process began.

Activity

Lists of Active Verbs

• U of Albany - Active Verbs List– http://www.albany.edu/~cg219/averbs.html

• WriteExpress® Action Verbs List– http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html

• Grantproposal.com Active Verb List– http://www.grantproposal.com/

proposal_verbs_inner.html

• Active and Passive Sentences– www.uhv.edu/ac/grammar/pdf/active.pdf