Finally, have a backup plan if time runs out; your backup plan should include knowledge of how to mix and match your patterns of development. Look inside and learn. | 130 Ace the TOEFL Essay TWE Active Sentence Sometimes called active voice a sentence where the subject does the action. Ex I ate S-V . The subject did something usually on a DO . Passive Sentence Sometimes called passive voice a sentence where the subject receives the action. The apple was eaten S-helping verb-main verb . Something was done to the subject. The passive never takes a DO. Usually the subject in a sentence is a noun. Analyze the next two sentences. The old people counted their money. Art. article Adj. adjective S subject V verb Pro. pronoun DO direct object The old counted their money. Although old is not a noun it is the subject in this sentence. Why Because the word old moved in the sentence. We omitted the word people so old took the position of subject. Old is still an adjective just as I am still a father during the time at work but my function changes because my environment changes. The word old is therefore acting as a noun so it can function as the subject of the sentence. Even though you do not know that you know you have just learned the difference between the syntactical function and the grammatical function of a word. So when we mention the syntactical function of a word we talk about how it operates in a sentence syntactical is the adjectival form of the noun syntax . Let s take a look at another one for nouns. 131 Syntax and Grammar I see the good the bad and the ugly. S-V-D0-D0-D0 DO Direct object. In an active sentence if the subject does something to something else or someone the thing or person receiving that action is the DO. The verb must be active however not a be verb . In this sentence the action verb is see so we must ask what is seen. The answer is the good the bad and the ugly. These words are adjectives like the word old. However they are acting like nouns in this sentence so they are the DOs. Look again at this sentence The old counted their money. The word money is a noun and it is the
