Shifts in mood and voice

Unnecessary shifts in the mood of a verb can be distracting and confusing to readers. There are three moods in English: the indicative, used for facts, opinions, and questions; the imperative, used for orders or advice; and the subjunctive, used in certain contexts to express wishes or conditions contrary to fact.

The following passage shifts confusingly from the indicative to the imperative mood.

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The writer began by reporting the counselor’s advice in the indicative mood (counselor advised) and switched to the imperative mood (pay attention); the revision puts both sentences in the indicative.

A verb may be in either the active voice (with the subject doing the action) or the passive voice (with the subject receiving the action). If a writer shifts without warning from one to the other, readers may be left wondering why.

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Because the passage began in the active voice (student completes) and then switched to the passive (self-assessment is given, copy is exchanged), readers are left wondering who gives the self-assessment to the teacher and the classmate. The active voice, which is clearer and more direct, leaves no ambiguity.