Vocabulary. The choice of words in statements is all-important. The storehouse of words you command is called your vocabulary The bigger it is, the more choices you have when you are searching for the right word. See, for example, style, colloquial, dialect, audience, scienti c language, and standard English for more information about how to chose the right vocabulary for your needs. Voice.Transitive verbs normally suggest action directed to or carried out on something or someone, which is their object: The batter hit the ball In this form verbs are said to be in the “active voice.” But transitive verbs can be made tore ect action back on their subject and convey no action to their object this is called the “passive voice of transitive verbs The ball was hit by the batter.” Passive voice forms usually add a linking verb element to distinguish them from the active forms in corresponding tenses or moods: The child watches. The child is/was/will be/would have been watched.” Generally, writing today favors the use of the active voice, since it is more conversational, more lively, and clearer. Its clarity comes from the fact that the active voice states the subject and object more directly and explicitly than does the passive—we know from an active sentence who did what to whom. Passive sentences are more obscure Pollution has not been cleaned up The sentence points to a condition but does not indicate who caused the pollution, who should be cleaning it up, or who should be concerned. Most writing should avoid this sort of fuzzing of cause and effect or responsibility when possible. Some styles, however, rely on the passive’s veiling of subjects and objects to produce a speci c e ect. Scienti c language,for instance, has often favored the passive in the belief that the absence of personal agents (subjects) makes information more objective, more veri able. Some critics of science and scienti c style argue that the predominance of the passive voice merely hides the role of the scientist. These critics believe it is important to keep in mind that a scientist may have brought assumptions, preconceptions, prejudices, or other distorting attitudes or opinions to work that cannot be considered objective or veri able just because it is reported in the passive voice. Other observers of language and style have frequently pointed out that government documents commonly use the passive voice to obscure responsibility for unpopular decisions Taxes are being raised Who raised them It is sometimes in the interests of politicians or bureaucrats to mask the source of policies or practices by using the passive voice. The general guideline suggesting avoidance of the passive is a good one to follow. However, when circumstances call for the disappearance or masking of a subject, the passive can be a handy tool. That is, choice of voice can be a stylistic or rhetorical option of great value in gaining emphasis, variety, or other e ects. The passive
should be used sparingly inmost situations, but at times it can be very effective. Vowel. The letters a e i o and u are called vowels and are di erentiated from consonants because of the way we produce their sounds when we speak. Recognizing which letters are which can be important when dividing a word into syllables in order to hyphenate it.
