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In sentence 1, the action denoted by the verb ‘divided’ passes from the
doer or subject ‘I’ to the object ‘the report’. The verb ‘divided’ is,
therefore called a transitive verb.
In sentence 2, the action denoted by the verb ‘came’ stops with doer or
subject ‘the students’ and does not pass to an object. The verb ‘came’
is, therefore, called an intransitive verb.
Definition
A transitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which
passes over from the doer or subject to an object.
Definition
An intransitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which
does not pass over to an object, or which expresses a state
or being;
The students came early to the class. (Action)
The baby sleeps. (State)
There is a flaw in this diamond. (Being)
1. I divided the report into three sections.
2. The students came early to the class.
In academic writing, the passive voice allows writers to highlight the most important
participants or events within sentences by placing them at the beginning of the
sentence.
In the above sentences, the passive construction is preferable because you want
readers to focus on the result of an action rather than the person doing the action.
2. To avoid reference to the known doer of the action
Example: One type of work group, the semi-autonomous work group, is
discussed in a section later in this chapter.
[It is obvious that it is the author who will be doing the discussing.]
Example:
Passive Voice Tone of the text
The biological differences The identity of the 'doer' in this
between men and women have text could be interpreted as
been used to legitimate society, the dominant social
hierarchical structures of social paradigm or males.
inequality.
The tone of the text is
descriptive and explanatory.
Using the active voice in this passage would change the tone of the passage and
create quite a different message.
Active Voice Tone of the text
Society has used the biological The text in the active voice
differences between men and focuses on the 'doers', that is
women to legitimate hierarchical society.
structures of social inequality.
The tone of the text is also much
more political and accusatory
rather than descriptive and
explanatory.
(Text from: Jagtenberg, T. & D'Alton, P. (1989) Four dimensional social space: Class, gender,
ethnicity and nature. Harper Row: Sydney.)
A. Passive sentences can sometimes be unsuitable in academic writing
because they can be vague about who is responsible for the action:
Example: Both Othello and Iago desire Desdemona. She is courted. [Who courts
Desdemona? Othello? Iago? Both of them?]