Thursday, June 1, 2017

How would I write a complete paragraph on the topic "A student miss classes with any two reasons"? The instructions are as follows: in one sentence that uses "who" and one sentence that uses "whom," use correct "indirect object with direct object" and "active voice"/"passive voice" sentences.

This question is a fairly interesting set-up because it sounds like it could be a creative writing prompt; however, it has various grammar requirements that will cause a writer to seriously think about the words that are going down on the page. It is up to the individual writer to figure out the various reasons why a student might come to class late. It is also up to an individual writer to decide on whether or not the paragraph is going to be narrative description only or have dialogue exist between the late student, fellow students, and/or the teacher. You also need to decide if this paragraph is going to be written from the first-person point of view or the third-person point of view. The first-person point of view could be fun to play around with because the first-person narrator doesn't have to be the student who walks in late. It could be another student in the class, or it could even be the teacher.
The paragraph could start out like the following.

I've been teaching for twenty minutes when I hear a knock at the door. Who could that be? Then my question is answered. The door is opened, and in walks Jimmy Dean. He's late as usual, so I wonder what his reason will be today. There's something goofy about this kid. He's actually someone with whom I would like to have a chat after class. That probably won't happen. He's always one of the first kids to leave the classroom. Before joining his classmates, Jimmy gives me his late note.

The above paragraph takes care of the requested grammatical structures; however, the paragraph doesn't complete the full assignment listed above. It is missing the information about why the student is late. The question states that the paragraph must include two reasons why the student arrived late to class. The above paragraph could easily incorporate those reasons. The teacher could read the note, or he could ask Jimmy to explain his tardiness in a little more detail. It depends on how creative you would like to get and whether or not dialogue is something that you want to include.
One recommendation that I do have about the paragraph is that it make minimal use of the passive voice. More often than not, teachers want things written in the active voice. This is because the active and passive voices emphasize different things. The active voice emphasizes the thing performing the action and (possibly) the recipient of the action. Passive sentences are different. The passive voice makes sense when the thing performing the action is not important. For example, "My car was broken into." It's not really important who did that. I care more about the fact that my car was broken into, and the passive voice sends that message. My own young kids have figured out when to use the passive voice to get out of punishments. They will say, "The window was broken" instead of "We broke the window."
Regarding the "who" versus "whom" conundrum, just remember that "who" is used to refer to the subject in a sentence, and "whom" should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition.

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