Using passive voice
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Students' problems | page 3 of 6 |
Active voice instead of passive voice
Students sometimes use an active verb form where a passive verb form is required:
I [^] often punished by the teacher. (TeleNex Students)
I am often punished by the teacher.I [^] promoted to Form Five. (TeleNex Students)
I was promoted to Form Five.
In the first of the above examples, it may be that the student feels that the use of by
+ agent 
, ie by the teacher, is sufficient to establish that
the clause is passive.
In the second case, the student may be influenced by the use of ergative verbs of
movement and change, such as graduate, eg I graduated from Form 5 and
move, eg I moved to Form 5.
Introduction
Active voice instead of passive voice
