Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

Latin-America from the United States exceeds that supplied by any other single country. Write three sentences illustrating transitive verbs. Write three sentences illustrating intransitive verbs. Write three sentences illustrating copulative verbs. =Exercise 99--Voice= Voice is that property of the verb that shows whether the subject acts or is acted upon. If the subject acts, the verb is in the _active voice_. If the subject is acted upon, the verb is in the _passive voice_. Every sentence containing a transitive verb must have the following parts: _Agent_(doer) _Action_ _Receiver_ The runaway horse injured John. When the sentence is in the order shown above, the subject is the agent, and the verb expresses the action of the agent. When the sentence is written in this order, the verb is said to be in the _active voice_. However, without changing the meaning of the sentence, we may change the order of the ideas; thus, _Receiver_ _Action_ _Agent_ John was injured by the runaway horse. The receiver of the action has become the subject, and the agent has become part of the predicate, being expressed in the phrase _by the runaway horse_. When the sentence is expressed in this order, the subject receiving or "suffering" the action, the verb is said to be in the _passive voice_. Only transitive verbs, therefore, may be changed to the passive voice. NOTE.--There are certain intransitive verbs that sometimes have a preposition so closely connected with them that the two are treated almost like a transitive verb, and may be made passive; as, _Active_: The audience laughed _at_ the speaker. _Passive_: The speaker was laughed _at_ by the audience. Write five sentences in the active voice. Change them to the passive voice. In the sentences that you have written, is the active form of the verb or the passive form better? Which is more direct in its wording? Which, then, is the better form to use regularly? =Exercise 100--Number and Person= The number of the verb is decided by the number of the subject. If the subject is a singular noun, or a pronoun that stands for a singular noun, it requires a singular verb; if the subject is plural, it requires a plural verb. As a rule, there is no difference between the singular and the plural forms of the verb except in the form for the third person singular; as, I say We say You say You say He says They say But as the third person of the verb is the one most often used, it must be carefully noted. The following subjects of verbs are singular and require a singular verb to accompany them: