Virginia SOL 9.LU.1.C
The Standard
Use and apply the active and passive voice as appropriate when speaking and writing.
Virginia Standards of Learning for English · Grammar
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify who performs an action and who receives it. They choose a sentence structure that makes the intended focus and responsibility clear.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can label a sentence’s voice and rewrite it without changing its tense or basic meaning. They can explain how their choice highlights the actor, action, or receiver.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think any sentence with a form of “be” is passive, or that passive voice means past tense. They may also change the verb tense when rewriting or remove the actor when it needs to be named.
How to Assess It
- Use this exit ticket: Rewrite “The committee approved the new schedule” in passive voice. Then choose which version fits a news headline better and explain why.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips with subjects, verbs, and objects; have them build an active sentence, then rearrange and add words to make it passive.
Compare two reports of the same event, then discuss how each version assigns responsibility or shifts attention.
Play a rewrite relay where teams convert sentences while keeping the original tense and meaning.
Examine headlines, lab procedures, and public notices to identify why writers name the actor or leave the actor unnamed.
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Printable 9.LU.1.C Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 10.LU.1.C
Recognize and use active and passive voice to convey a desired effect in speaking and writing.
- 4.LU.1.E
Use standard subject-verb agreement when speaking and writing.
- 11.LU.1.C
Differentiate and apply active and passive voice to convey a desired effect in speaking and writing.
- 6.LU.1.D
Use phrases and clauses within a sentence and apply appropriate subject-verb agreement when speaking and writing.
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