#GROWLY WRITE MOVIE#

Okay, who’s rowing the boat? Who do you see rowing the boat? No one. And he or she can’t do that if sentences are passive.Ī boat is being rowed across a moonlit lake beneath a clouded over sky as small waves lap against the boat’s side.

#GROWLY WRITE MOVIE#

Screenwriting is telling a story in visual terms and the hope is that a reader is “seeing” the movie as he or she reads. And in an active voice sentence? That means Bob comes first, before the verb.

If the verb belongs to Bob? Bob is the subject. Is the whiskey drinking Bob? Or is Bob drinking the whiskey? Is the horse riding Bob? Or is Bob riding the horse? Is the laundry doing Bob, or is Bob doing the laundry? passive voice thing is still going to be confusing for lit major victims who have become enamored of objects in the place of subjects and will be looking at this cross eyed saying, Well, why can’t the laundry up there be the active subject?

The subject comes before the verb.ĭIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN SUBJECT & OBJECT: That’s the rule for active voice sentences. What you will see in every active sentence is, the subject leads the sentence and comes before the verb. Now the subject, Bob, is not leading and taking action, the subject Bob is coming in at the end of the sentence being acted upon by the verb punch - because the subject Bob is coming in at the end of the sentence behind the verb, instead of in front of it.ĭOWN & DIRTY EXAMPLES OF ACTIVE VOICE VS. You can change the word order in active voice sentences by moving the subject to the end of the sentence, but that makes the sentences passive because the subject is passive - the subject is no longer dictating the action, the subject is being dictated to by the action: The subject, Bob, is performing the action, punch.īecause the subject performs the action/verb, the sentence is active. In most sentences that contain an action verb, the subject leads the sentence and performs the action designated by the verb: And the writer will be getting frustrated, not knowing what in hell I think is wrong with his or her “voice.” And boom, miscommunication follies ensue. I will start feeling all growly, thinking, Wow, this writer really doesn’t listen. The writer will keep saying, “Gotcha.” And will keep writing in passive voice. So I will keep saying, You can’t use passive voice. And the student thinks I am talking a stylistic tonal “writer’s voice” thing.

But I think sometimes when I tell a student he or she cannot use passive voice, there is a disconnect. Scripts have to be written in active voice. You can’t write scripts in passive voice. And the student will say, “Gotcha.” Add water. And I’ll say, Listen, you really can’t do this. Till the next time I see the student’s writing and the student will still be doing what I said doesn’t work. The student will say, “Gotcha.” I will think all is well. I will tell a student something doesn’t work. I get into trouble sometimes with students.

Growly write