JEOPARDY! Promotes Good Grammar

On the first section of the popular quiz show JEOPARDY! on September 23, one of the categories was "Grammar." The contestants had to guess the questions for answers about things like adjectives and active and passive voice.

This is a good reminder that, in most of your writing, ACTIVE voice is the best choice. "Bob ate the pie." That was the example given on the show. In this sentence, Bob (subject) is DOING something.

The PASSIVE voice example, which I like to refer to as "going around your elbow to say what you mean" was "The pie was eaten by Bob."

A good way to keep yourself in active voice is to avoid writing phrases like "by Bob" or "by the assistant." If there is a "by" phrase in the sentence, get rid of it and promote its object to subject, as in:

The report was written by her assistant.

Her assistant wrote the report.

I hope that helps. If you are not happy with your level of usage and grammar, one good help can be to watch quiz shows that involve words and thinking. JEOPARDY! is a good one. So is WHEEL OF FORTUNE.