Local Revision: Passive and Active Voice

 Using active verbs seems to be the best way to go about things. It makes things more interesting to read. Plus, it also helps with the description of people, objects, events, and how they occurred. It all just helps your work become less boring and more likely to stick to the audience.

Kuhlmann, Minda H. "Parks and Rec Boring Buzzer" 2/18/2015 via flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic

Active (Specific)
Attributed
executed
cracking
enriching
ushered
inhaling
hindered
differentiated
pinpoint
retaliated

Active (General)
 discovered
revealed
explode
concerningnotice
leaked
researching
capturedrecorded
caught
relating
claimed
peaked
allegedly
aid
stolen
delay
reassess
repackage
meaning
involving
know
paved
acquired
profit
standtargeted
shake

Passive
appeared
seen
felt
sitting
seemed
hear
attacking
entitled
based
released
targeted
attribute
developed
looking
related
aimed
going
tracked
researching
captured
concerned
development
attacked
try
assist
confirmed
released
targeted
randomly
destroyed
present
attacked
confirmed
destroyed
attacked
involved
developed
cured

Question Responses
1. Well looking at this break down made me want to feed my Quick Reference Guide to my dog. It has way to many passive verbs. There is a few use of good active verbs, but other than that, The passive verbs dominate. Furthermore, the active verb I do have are not as specific as they can be.

2. My use of verbs can make it more interesting. It also seems that my extensive use of passive verbs makes my QRG sound like it is somewhat unsure of itself. I have to get rid of a lot of the passive verbs. Thankfully, while I was looking for the passive verbs, I also highlighted them. I just need to go back and  change them to be more specific. I used "was" a lot, but I did notice where I can change it and what I can do.

For example, I have a sentence that states: " they began to realize that it was looking for something in specific." This can be changed to: "they began to realize it scanned for something in specific.