Maryland ELA L.8.3.a
The Standard
- L.8.3
- Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjective mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact).
Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjective mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact).
Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for English Language Arts (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students choose active or passive voice to put the doer or the action in focus. They use if-then sentences for possible outcomes and forms such as "If I were" for imagined situations.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can change "The coach canceled practice" to "Practice was canceled by the coach" and explain what the reader notices first. They can write "If it rains, practice will move inside" and "If I were the coach, I would cancel it" for different purposes.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may mistake any past-tense verb for passive voice. They may think passive voice is always wrong, even when the doer is unknown. They may use "was" in "If I was the coach" when describing an imagined situation.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Rewrite "A student found the missing key" to focus on the key. Then finish "If I find the key, I will..." and "If I were the owner, I would..." and explain what each sentence expresses.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips reading "The storm toppled the tree" and "The tree was toppled by the storm"; have them circle the doer.
Ask students to write two sentences beginning "If I were principal" and explain why they chose "were."
Play a rewrite relay: teams change "Maya spilled the paint" to passive voice, then write one possible if-then outcome.
Compare "The company recalled the toy" with "The toy was recalled" on a mock product notice; ask who gets attention in each.
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Printable L.8.3.a Worksheet
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