Passive Voice for Suspense

Worksheet Description

This worksheet is about the use of passive voice to create suspense or to deliberately omit the agent of the action in a sentence. It provides an explanation of when passive voice might be preferable, such as when the agent is obvious, unimportant, or unknown, or when the writer wants to delay revealing the agent. The worksheet gives examples of sentences written in active voice, passive voice with an agent, and passive voice without an agent. Students are instructed to rewrite given sentences in passive voice without mentioning the agent.

The worksheet is designed to teach students how to manipulate sentence structure for stylistic effect, specifically by using the passive voice to omit the doer of the action. This can be a powerful tool in writing, especially when the focus should be on the action itself rather than who performed it. By practicing this transformation, students learn to enhance their writing by controlling emphasis and creating intrigue or suspense. This exercise also deepens their understanding of how grammatical choices can affect the reader’s experience.