In
my previous post, I revealed how
St. Pete Times writer Thomas French uses the ends of paragraphs as hot spots, or points of special emphasis. A small part of that passage reveals another important writing strategy. Remember that a chimpanzee named Herman has been killed at the Lowry Park Zoo, and Tom offers a eulogy for the fallen primate.
Tom recounts Herman's history:
He was carried across an ocean, installed inside a cage, taught to depend on the imperfect love of strangers.
With those three verbs, Tom establishes a pattern of passivity. As the victim of these actions, Herman receives the action of the verb, which drives Tom to verbs in the passive voice: The chimp "was carried," (was) "installed," (was) "taught."
But by the next sentence, Herman has become a survivor, an actor rather than a victim, so no surprise that the author turns to active verbs: He "charmed," "threw dirt," and "learned" to blow kisses and smoke cigarettes.
That's a tool:
When you are trying to emphasize the victim or receiver of the action, use the passive voice. But when the subject turns to direct action, use the active voice to describe it.
