Perhaps it's off-topic for a high school teacher (who trained as a linguist) to put in her two cents, but here it is.

A great student activity for analyzing the productive use of passive voice is for students to break down "Out of a War of Wits" by Dylan Thomas. The key to the poem is its deliberate movement from an active to passive state of mind -- and that is reflected in structure of the sentences. Working with this poem was a breakthrough for me when I was just starting to study linguistics, and I've tried to pass on to my students my delight in the careful manipulation of passive voice.

And one other thing: I am also the journalism teacher, and if editors purport to hate anything, it's "passive voice." To them, passive voice is any sentence that uses a form of the verb "to be." I spent two weeks at a journalism institute last summer being red-penciled by a veteran reporter who slashed my "weak verbs" in the name of passive voice.

Most of my students believe that "passive voice" is a very bad thing. Are they confused about what constitutes passive voice? You betcha. Do I blame them? Nope. That's why I use the Thomas poem to show them how and why it could/should be used. I wish I had time to compile more examples for them to work with. Going back to Orwell will help. Thanks. 

(My erstwhile editor will kill me for having written all of these sentences with weak verbs.)


Kimberley Hunt
Instructor, English Dept.
St. Scholastica Academy
7416 N. Ridge
Chicago, IL 60645
773-764-5715 x343

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