Which sentence “shows” the action best? • Joe walked to the house. • Joe strode to the house. Verbs are action words and are key to showing rather than telling. Verbs themselves can be active or passive, as you can see from the examples above. Joe walked is pretty mundane. It’s not wrong, but you can show his state of mind by using a strong, active verb, such as strode, stomped, loped , or stumbled . You can also describe the character with a verb, such as Joe limped . Watch verb “helpers” , such as the “to be” form. Joe was walking . Again, it is not wrong, but it is more passive than even the simple Joe walked. The voice of a verb tells whether the subject of the sentence performs the action (active or strong) or is acted upon (passive or weak.) • Joe was praised by Glen. (passive) • Glen praised Joe. (active) The passive voice can be used when the actor is unknown or is less important than the object of the action. • Participants in the survey were asked about the...