Deck 21: More on Verbs

Question 1

Which one of the following sentences is in passive voice?

A) The baby was fed by his grandmother.
B) Jerome rode the bus to Houston.
C) I can hear the wind chimes tinkling in the wind.
D) You left the door open.

Answer 1

The baby was fed by his grandmother.

Question 2

Which one of the following sentences is in passive voice?

A) The employees left the coffeepot on all day.
B) Kristianne washed the car.
C) The mailbox was emptied by the mail carrier.
D) Buddy opened the gate and let the dogs out.

Answer 2

The mailbox was emptied by the mail carrier.

Question 3

Which one of the following sentences is in passive voice?

A) Jennifer hid the chocolate.
B) The television was turned on in the middle of the night.
C) He watched the birds flying overhead.
D) They asked the waiter for the bill.

Answer 3

The television was turned on in the middle of the night.

Question 4

Which one of the following sentences uses inconsistent verb tenses?

A) The tire blew, and I freeze.
B) The wind howled through the trees, and the moon glowed eerily.
C) I'm afraid of bugs and keep bug spray on me at all times.
D) Every day he walks to work and takes his lunch.

Question 5

Which one of the following sentences uses inconsistent verb tenses?

A) Courage is a cowardly dog and runs from his own shadow.
B) He dared to challenge the winner and lost.
C) The sanitation workers arrive at 5:30 every morning and woke everyone up.
D) They remembered the day but forgot the month.

Question 6

Which one of the following sentences uses inconsistent verb tenses?

A) The plane looped through the sky and flies over our house.
B) The bus leaves every 30 minutes and costs little to ride.
C) Ginger rang the bell and yelled, "Fire!"
D) This paint dries quickly and can be purchased in any hardware store.

Question 7

Which one of the following verbs would correctly complete this sentence?
That sneaky hamster _______________ how to open its cage and escaped.

A) has learned
B) learn
C) learned
D) had learned

Question 8

Which one of the following verbs would correctly complete this sentence?
Jay yelled "Boo" as he _______________ from behind the chair.

A) spring
B) sprang
C) sprung
D) had sprung

Question 9

Why is consistent verb tense important?

A) Consistent verb tense isn't important to meaning, but it affects your writing style.
B) Verbs establish the action and time of the sentence, so keeping the tense consistent keeps your reader from becoming confused.
C) Consistent verb tenses show that you are confident in your subject matter.
D) Verb tenses should be consistent only when you are telling a story; then you stay in past tense to tell your reader that the event happened a long time ago.

Question 10

Why should you use active voice instead of passive voice?

A) Active voice sounds more confident.
B) Passive voice is too subtle.
C) Active voice adds energy to your writing.
D) Passive voice is ungrammatical.

Question 11

What is consistent verb tense?

Question 12

What is the difference between active and passive voice?

Question 13

Underline the inconsistent verb in the following sentence.
I speak to the new girl, invited her to the dance, and introduced her to my friends.

Question 14

Rewrite the sentence in Question 3 to keep all verbs consistent.

Question 15

Rewrite the following passive sentence in active voice.
The invitations were received in time for everyone to respond.

Question 16

Rewrite the following passive sentence in active voice.
The poems can be read aloud by each student.

Question 17

Underline the passive sentences once and the inconsistent verb forms twice in the following paragraph. Then rewrite the paragraph in active voice, keeping the verbs consistent.

-adopted a cat, or I should say that we were adopted by a cat. It all started when our new neighbors moved in next door. One day they had two cats, and the next day they has five. My neighbor explained that she had to take in her brother's cat and two kittens because her brother is moving out of town. The cats were felt sorry for by all of us. They were too skinny and had fleas. One of the baby kittens kept coming over to our yard, and we quickly grows attached to her. We tried to resist her sweet little face, but no one can. Soon we were buying flea shampoo and kitten food. Next the cat was named Misha. Now she is a permanent part of our family.