Monday, January 14

1. Monday, January 14 • Bellringer: Active and Passive Voice • Grammar: Voice • Writing Activity: Yo! Yes? • Writing Groups • Bring book to class

2. The man bent over the horse’s neck, urging the steed on with his body and the stick that he twitched out behind him. The horse was being ridden by an eager man. He was being whipped by the man, who was leaning over his neck as he galloped as fast as he could. BellringerCopy the two sentences below. Which one is more interesting to you? Why? Explain in a few sentences.

3. Active and Passive Voice • A sentence is in the active voice when the subject performs the action of the verb. • Neil Armstrong landed the Apollo lunar module on the moon in 1969. • A sentence is in the passive voice when the subject receives the action of the verb. The verb in a passive-voice sentence consists of a form of be and the past participle. Often a phrase beginning with by follows a verb in a passive-voice sentence. • The Apollo lunar module was landed on the moon in 1969 by Neil Armstrong. (was and the past participle of land followed by a phrase beginning with by)

4. To figure out if a sentence is in the passive voice, check to see if the subject is performing the action. • The man rode the horse. • The horse was being ridden by the man. • To confirm that it is passive, look for a form of be in the verb.

5. Identify the sentence as active or passive. Then choose five passive sentences and rewrite them in the active voice. 1. A solar eclipse was predicted by Thales of Miletus in 585 B.C. 2. Hipparchus established an observatory in the third century B.C. 3. A supernova, or exploding star, was recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. 4. According to the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, the sun and the planets circled Earth once a day. 5. In 1543, a new theory was suggested by a Polish astronomer, Copernicus. 6. In this theory, Earth and other planets orbited the sun. 7. The use of Copernicus’s theory was forbidden by religious leaders until 1757.

6. 8. However, persons were convinced about Copernicus’s theory by the discoveries of other astronomers. 9. The law of universal gravitation was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. 10. The Copernican theory gained support after this discovery. 11. Uranus was found by Sir William Herschel in 1781. 12. Pluto was discovered by Clyde William Tombaugh in 1930. 13. The closest planet to the sun, Mercury, orbits the sun in eighty-eight Earth days. 14. Venus is called “the Morning Star” by many persons. 15. An American space probe, Mariner II, reached Venus in 1962. 16. It sent back data about conditions on and near Venus. 17. The surface of Venus has been mapped by succeeding American space probes.

7. 18. We call Mars “the Red Planet.” 19. This planet was named by ancient Romans after the red god of war in Roman mythology. 20. Limonite, a brick-colored mineral, gives Mars its red color. 21. Mars orbits the sun in about 687 Earth days. 22. Mars was observed by the U.S. spacecraft Mariner IV in 1965. 23. In 1976, the United States landed Viking I near the planet’s equator. 24. Photographs of the surface of Mars were sent back to Earth by both Viking I and Viking II. 25. They showed the canyons, deep gorges, and “dry river beds” on the surface of Mars. 26. The first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched by the United States in 1981. 27. Two big booster rockets launch the space shuttle into orbit. 28. It uses its wings to land like a glider.

8. Yo! Yes? • Write your own script in the style of “Yo! Yes?” • It should tell a story, but only use lines of one or two words and 2-3 characters. • You may use font size, style, and color to help suggest what words are saying. • Your script should be 24-34 lines long. • Be prepared to perform your skit and turn in a copy of your script.