[Grammar] most paper is made from trees

Status
Not open for further replies.

Venus.jam

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Turkish
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
hi,

Is the following sentence a passive voice?

"most paper is made from trees"
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Re: passive voice

Yes.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Venus.jam, in an earlier thread ems wrote 'It's important to start every sentence (including complete sentences within quotation marks) with a capital letter and to end every sentence with a single, appropriate punctuation mark.'

Additionally, she made your title more relevant, as I have done here.


Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'
Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'
 

Venus.jam

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Turkish
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Re: passive voice



Thanks. So, is the following sentence the active form of the previous one?

Trees make most paper.
If yes, is it natural to use active voice in this context?
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Re: passive voice

There is no active version of your original sentence, The closest logical one would be something like "People [mostly] make paper from wood".
 

Venus.jam

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Turkish
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Re: passive voice

There is no active version of your original sentence, The closest logical one would be something like "People [mostly] make paper from wood".


Thank you. Excuse me, would you please let me know why you put "mostly" inside these marks? ([mostly]). Does it mean that its use is optional in the sentence? Moreover, what are they called in English?
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Re: passive voice

I would say the best way to rephrase your example (if you must) in the active voice is: People make paper mostly from wood.

mostly is better next to from wood.

[These marks are called square brackets.]
 

Venus.jam

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Turkish
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Re: passive voice

I would say the best way to rephrase your example (if you must) in the active voice is: People make paper mostly from wood.

mostly is better next to from wood.

[These marks are called square brackets.]

Thanks a lot. So when do we use square brackets ina sentence? What do they mean? As you previously made use of them.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Re: passive voice

Sorry I was not very clear. (These are round brackets.) [These are square brackets.]

Both kinds of brackets have multiple uses. Why don't you see if you can find an explanation of these uses online first, and then come back to us in a different thread if you still have any doubts.
 

Venus.jam

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
Turkish
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Re: passive voice

Sorry I was not very clear. (These are round brackets.) [These are square brackets.]

Both kinds of brackets have multiple uses. Why don't you see if you can find an explanation of these uses online first, and then come back to us in a different thread if you still have any doubts.

Thanks a world. I checked it online. As you have mentioned there are several uses for brackets, such as to add clarification, to add information, etc. But, my problem is actually with your use of square brackets in the edited version of the sentence that I was provided with. My original sentence was "most paper is made from trees". You provided the passive voice of this sentence as ""People [mostly] make paper from wood". My question according to my last post was that "would you please let me know why you put "mostly" inside these marks?" To put it simply, why did you put "mostly" in brackets?
 

ChinaDan

Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
China
Re: passive voice

If you are talking about post #5, I believe the brackets were to indicate that "mostly" was an optional word. You could take it out if you like.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top