Carol Rose
Basic
WRITING MECHANICS – PART TWO
In PART ONE of WRITING MECHANICS, we covered basic punctuation. Now, let’s move on to the grammar…
Filter Words
Called this because they FILTER the emotion for your reader. They TELL the reader what you want them to feel. And because they do, they create distance between the reader and the character. You do not want this, especially in character-driven stories.
I’d suggest using them judiciously, if you must use them at all. Best reference I’ve found for identifying these is in the link below. I make a separate pass for each of these words. Yes. Each of them. Yes, it takes a long time, but it’s worth it. My writing improved so much once I stopped using these so often.
Bear in mind that not every single instance of using one of these words filters the emotion or creates distance. That’s why you need to make a pass for each one, and evaluate whether there’s a better way of saying what you’re trying to say.
https://writeitsideways.com/are-these-filter-words-weakening-your-fiction/
Dangling modifiers
This one trips up a lot of authors because we tend not to think about them as we speak. It’s one of those things you likely recall learning about, but never gave it much thought once the class was finished. Unless of course you teach English, and then you should be writing this post.
What is a modifier? It’s a word that describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept.
What is a dangling modifier? A word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence.
Example:
Having finished breakfast, the TV was turned on.
In English sentences, the doer must be the subject of the main clause that follows the participle. "Having finished breakfast" is a participle, but the clause that follows – “the TV was turned on” - does not clearly name the doer of the action. TV sets don’t finish breakfast. Since the doer of the action expressed in the participle has not been clearly stated, the participial phrase is said to be a dangling modifier.
These are easily fixed once you spot them. Simply make the appropriate or logical doer of the action the subject of the main clause. In the example above, to eliminate the dangling modifier, you’d change the sentence to this:
Having finished breakfast, John turned on the TV.
You can also change the phrase that dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming the doer of the action in that clause:
After John finished breakfast, he turned on the TV.
Below are some great resources, along with examples:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/dangling_modifiers_and_how_to_correct_them.html
https://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/dangling_modifier.htm
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/danglingmodifier.htm
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-dangling-modifier-1690415
Passive Voice
This is another one that trips people up, partly because they are incorrectly taught how to spot it. I’ve even (sadly) seen editors give incorrect advice on passive voice.
So first, let's dispel a few myths…
Passive voice is NOT every single instance of the verb TO BE. You'll see why in a moment.
Passive voice is NOT ALWAYS a form of the verb TO BE plus an ING word. Again, you'll see why in a moment.
Grammar checks in Word or other word processing apps will not always catch passive voice. Grammar checks are dicey things. Grammar checks incorrectly identifying passive voice are likely part of the reason why so many authors and editors mistakenly flag something as passive voice when it’s not.
What is passive voice?
Quite simply, it’s a sentence in which the subject is ACTED UPON, instead of one in which the subject PERFORMS the action. Yes. It’s really that simple.
To find passive voice in your own writing, determine who or what is doing the action in the sentence. Are they performing it, or is it being done to them?
Honestly, that's it. That's all you have to look for. Who or what is doing the action in the sentence, and are they doing it, or having it done to them? I’m going to give you the nuts and bolts of it in a moment, but only because I want you to understand it completely. However, this is the easiest way to spot it.
Here is an example of PASSIVE VOICE:
The house was painted by the team.
What is the subject of this sentence? THE HOUSE.
What is the action? WAS PAINTED.
Did the house PERFORM this action? No. It had the action performed ON IT. It WAS PAINTED.
Here's the same sentence in ACTIVE VOICE:
The team painted the house.
The subject is THE TEAM.
The action? PAINTED.
Did the team have this action performed ON IT? No. It PERFORMED the action. It PAINTED.
I know you’re really intelligent people, but let’s run through another example. I want you to see how simple this actually is. Notice I’m not talking about finding ING words or forms of the verb TO BE. I’m only asking you to determine whether the subject of the sentence performed an action, or had an action performed on it.
Poland was invaded.
Poland is the subject.
Did Poland perform an action?
No. Poland had an action performed on it. It WAS INVADED.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Poland was invaded by Germany.
Same scenario. Poland had an action performed on it. It was invaded by Germany.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Germany invaded Poland.
Germany is the subject.
Did Germany have an action performed on it? No.
Did it perform an action?
Yes. It INVADED Poland.
This subject is ACTIVE VOICE.
Is it passive voice or continuous tense?
Okay. That was easy, right? But now we have to talk about verb tenses, because in English grammar nuts and bolts, passive voice is defined by that TO BE and ING words stuff. We have to go there, but stick with me. This really isn’t complicated once you understand the concept of performing the action versus acted on.
Passive voice is formed with the auxiliary verb to be, followed by the past participle of the main verb, EXCEPT in present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, or future continuous tenses.
Whoa. So, okay. You may need to dig deep and remember all that stuff you learned about continuous verb tenses, but don’t panic. I’ve already given you the super-secret-double-probation way of identifying passive voice – whether the subject of the sentence is being acted on (passive voice), or is performing the action (active voice).
But it’s important you understand the verb tenses because sentences are often flagged as passive for this reason. People mistakenly believe that any use of the verb to be indicates a passive sentence. But present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, and future continuous tense are all ACTIVE tenses.
No way, Carol!
Yes, way. Let’s find out why…
The present perfect continuous form of the verb TO BE is HAS BEEN/HAVE BEEN:
The neighborhood kids have been building a tree house.
If someone had simply looked for an ING word and a form of the verb TO BE, this sentence would have been marked as passive, but it’s not.
The subject is the neighborhood kids and they have been performing an action– they have been building the tree house. The sentence is ACTIVE.
The past perfect continuous form of the verb TO BE is HAD BEEN:
The neighborhood kids had been building a tree house.
If someone had simply looked for an ING word and a form of the verb TO BE, this sentence would have been marked as passive, but it’s not.
The subject is the neighborhood kids and they had been performing an action– they had been building the tree house. The sentence is ACTIVE.
The future continuous form of the verb TO BE is WILL/SHALL BE:
The neighborhood kids will be building a tree house.
If someone had simply looked for an ING word and a form of the verb TO BE, this sentence would have been marked as passive, but it’s not.
The subject is the neighborhood kids and they will be performing an action– they will be building the tree house. The sentence is ACTIVE.
Mind blown, right? By concentrating ONLY on the ING words and forms of the verb TO BE, millions of sentences up and down the genres, critiqued by well-meaning authors, inexperienced editors, and struggling writers have been flagged as passive. When in reality, most of them likely were not. All because the person doing the flagging wasn’t looking at the right concept.
And also likely because they didn’t take the definition that includes verb tenses far enough. Or, perhaps they didn’t remember or understand all those verb tenses. Or, they probably weren’t taught the right way.
Looking ONLY for ING WORDS paired with a form of the verb TO BE is the WRONG way to spot passive voice.
Again… this is all you have to do:
1. Identify the subject of the sentence.
2. Is the subject performing an action? If yes, it’s active voice.
3. Is the subject having an action performed on it? If yes, it’s passive voice.
So, why the fuss about active voice? Should you always use active voice? Not necessarily. There are circumstances where passive voice is fine to use. You can read about those in various blog posts and articles. But to keep your fiction writing active, to keep it moving forward, and to keep your readers engaged with the characters, watch for instances of passive voice and change those to active voice as needed.
Keeping your writing active reduces the tell by eliminating the distance between the reader and the character's actions that passive voice creates.
Do you see how all of this fits together? We’ve talked about show versus tell in just about every Craft Chat post. We’ve talked about keeping the story moving forward. And we’ve talked about filtering the emotion in this post already.
In addition, understanding how to identify passive voice prevents you from incorrectly identifying it in another writer’s work, and thus confusing them. Because now you know the truth.
Below are links for future reference:
http://www.alumni.org.br/Quiz/Faq/pv.html
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/active_and_passive_voice/active_versus_passive_voice.html
https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/09/14/102274_how-to-identify-passive-voice.html
Passive Voice - The Writing Center
WAS
I’m adding this here because I’ve also seen people incorrectly say that if you use the word WAS in your writing, it’s passive voice. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. This is another of those incorrectly taught ways of spotting passive voice.
How did this happen? Same reason we outlined above. Was is the first person, past tense of the verb TO BE. So if you’re looking for a form of the verb TO BE plus an ING word to identify passive voice… Yep. You got it wrong again.
Just to reassure you that all instances of using WAS do not automatically equal passive voice, let’s run through one more example…
The boy was painting the house.
Subject: The boy
Is there an action performed by the subject? Yes. He was painting the house. Specifically, was painting is the past continuous tense of the verb PAINT.
Because the subject of the sentence performed an action, as opposed to had an action performed on it, the sentence is ACTIVE.
The house was painted by the boy.
Subject: The house
Is there an action performed by the subject? No.The action is performed ON the subject.
This sentence is PASSIVE.
And it's passive NOT because of the verb tense or the use of WAS, but because the subject of the sentence did not perform an action, but instead had an action performed on it.
So again… forget looking for WAS. It won’t help you identify passive voice. It’s not an evil word. You need it to write in past tense. And as we just illustrated, it can be part of an active sentence, too.
That’s it for Part Two! In Part Three, we’ll talk about adverbs, adjectives, glue words, unnecessary or redundant words, and repeated words.
But like you said, they can get away with it because that's how they write, and their readers don't mind. 
