Active and Passive Voice

Examples of Active Voice

1. Anna painted the house

2. The teacher always answers the students’ questions.

3. Ali posted the video online.

Examples of Passive Voice

1. The house was painted by Anna.

2. The students’ questions are answered by the teacher.

3. The video was posted online by Ali

​Stephen King on Active and Passive Voice

• Stephen King thinks that passive voice of writing should be avoided when writing

• He thinks that passive voice makes your writing have too much authority

• He thinks when you’re writing you should sound more conversational

Adverbs

Words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They usually end in -ly.



Ex: quickly, slowly, quietly, etc.

​Stephen King on Adverbs

• While Stephen King says that it is okay to use adverbs, he thinks that they should not be used often in writing.

• He thinks that you should avoid adverbs in dialogue attribution

Dialogue Attribution

words that come at the end (or sometimes the start… or even in the middle) of a line of dialogue.


Ex: “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Gregor said. “Let’s go to the park instead.”