V OICE Verbs also have a property called “voice” that indicates where action is directed. Active voice verbs convey action directly to objects or indirect objects: I hand the book to the librarian Passive voice verbs depict action that does not pass to an object but is re ected back on the subject of a sentence: The book was handed to the librarian by me The passive voice is usually disdained in standard English because it often omits agents and doesn’t make causation clear It will be done But this aw of obscurity is sometimes prized by writers who want to de ect attention from the agent of an action for whatever reason. Voice is a property of transitive verbs, those able to transmit action to an object. Intransitive verbs do not convey action to an object but usually express condition It happens, one becomes used to something and simply vegetates All the verbs (underlined) in the example are intransitive.
