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Zorluk: OrtaStrategic Active vs. Passive Voice Usage

In GRE Analytical Writing essays, selecting strategically between active and passive voice determines sentence clarity, agency attribution, and persuasive force. Match each problematic sentence construction on the left with the primary rhetorical defect or stylistic flaw caused by its passive voice usage on the right.

  • In the audit of the regional transit authority, financial discrepancies were discovered and improper allocations were made.Agency Obscuration: Omits the responsible actor entirely, concealing accountability in policy or institutional analysis.
  • It is contended by proponents of the legislative reform that individual liberties are enhanced by decentralized governance.Prepositional Drag: Demotes active agents into passive prepositional phrases, cluttering sentence structure and weakening thesis vigor.
  • During the clinical trial, patient responses were recorded and conclusions were drawn without identifying the oversight team.Methodological Anonymity: Obscures research agency by stacking passive constructions without specifying who executed the investigation.
  • Because insufficient evidence was presented, the central proposal was rejected and public funding was withheld.Causal Dilution: Weakens argument momentum by framing both cause and effect in passive structures rather than attributing direct action.

Cevap

Each passive sentence construction corresponds to a specific rhetorical flaw: agentless passive audit statements obscure institutional agency; passive constructions with 'by' phrases create prepositional drag; passive scientific methodology creates anonymity; and passive cause-and-effect statements dilute logical argument momentum.
Each sentence illustrates a classic rhetorical weakness associated with unstrategic passive voice usage in academic writing: agentless passives hide responsibility, passive prepositional phrases create wordiness, passive experimental descriptions obscure methodology, and passive causal chains weaken argument logic.

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1
Analyze the audit sentence ('financial discrepancies were discovered...') for subject-verb relations and agency.
Identified that no subject is performing the actions 'discovered' or 'made', hiding who is responsible.
Omitting the agent in policy contexts leads to Agency Obscuration.
2
Examine the sentence regarding legislative reform ('It is contended by proponents...').
Noted that the real actors ('proponents', 'decentralized governance') are buried inside 'by' prepositional phrases.
Demoting active agents into prepositional phrases creates unnecessary wordiness and Prepositional Drag.
3
Evaluate the clinical trial statement ('patient responses were recorded...').
Observed multiple consecutive passive verbs describing procedure without attributing the actions to researchers.
Stacking passive verbs in empirical contexts obscures ownership of the methodology.
4
Analyze the causal sentence ('Because insufficient evidence was presented...').
Determined that both the premise and outcome lack active subjects performing the action.
Framing cause and effect passively reduces persuasive impact and creates Causal Dilution.

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Strategic Active vs. Passive Voice Usage
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Strategic Active vs. Passive Voice Usage