Write On!

• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 1 Pg. 19
• Publication year: 2015
• Pages: 19
• Year: 2015

Write On! Vol. 38 No. 1 Pg. 19 Wyoming Bar Journal February, 2015

John H. Ridge, J.D., Ph.D. Deputy City Attorney Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Helping Your Verbs Find Their Voice

A delightful piece of dialogue occurs in the Hollywood blockbuster A Few Good Men:

Colonel Jessep: You want answers?

Lieutenant Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to them.

Jessep: You want answers?

Kaffee: I want the truth!

Jessep: You can't handle the truth!

Besides the Oscar worthy performances of Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, the dialogue is thrilling because the writer used the active voice. Try to imagine the courtroom interchange if Colonel Jessep spoke in the passive voice:

Jessep: You want answers?

Kaffee: I want the truth!

Jessep: The truth can't be handled by you!^[1]

It loses its dramatic force.

As discussed in a previous article, verbs have five general properties: person, number, tense, mood, and voice. In the following, we will explore the last property, voice.

Defining the Active Voice

Verbs have either active voice or passive voice. In sentences using the active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action indicated by the main verb. For example:

Example 1

Opposing counsel [subject/actor] rejected [verb] the settlement offer.

In this instance, opposing counsel is the subject of the sentence. Opposing counsel is also the same person who performed the action indicated by the verb: "rejection" of the settlement offer.

The active voice can also be identified...