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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    Screenwriting Discussion    Screenwriting Class  ›  Ing Ing Ing Ing Moderators: George Willson
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danbotha
Posted: January 5th, 2013, 8:14pm Report to Moderator
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Ah, yeah that does make sense. Sorry I didn't read your post correctly


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bjamin
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 5:18pm Report to Moderator
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Basically, I believe the easiest way to avoid this issue is simply by not using 'is' or 'are' before the verb. Bottom line is, verbs ending in 'ing' are not automatically passive.

http://johnaugust.com/2012/grammar-guns-butter
*http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/active-voice-versus-passive-voice.aspx



Revision History (5 edits; 1 reasons shown)
bjamin  -  February 23rd, 2013, 9:37am
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Dreamscale
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 5:53pm Report to Moderator
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None that I can think of.
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bjamin
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 5:58pm Report to Moderator
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@dreamscale-- are you referring to my original question/post, before the edit?


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Dreamscale
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 6:23pm Report to Moderator
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Yes...didn't see the edit, actually.
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bjamin
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 6:32pm Report to Moderator
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I happy you caught it and replied.


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Dreamscale
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 7:17pm Report to Moderator
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Hey butters.

Yeah, for me, it's simple and obvious.  Stay away from passive writing, which I call passive verbiage.  Just no reason to do it, as it's usually so easy to write the line the way it should be written in the first place.

If you have a compound sentence and you use a passive 2nd or 3rd verb?  No big deal.  Who cares.

But, most importantly, you CANNOT write poorly out of the gate.  You just can't. Many readers will immediately pick up the mistakes and before they even realize it, that's all they're focusing on.

So important.  Seriously.

If nothing else, think of it this way...

You want to get as much good visual info on each page, right?  when you write passively, you're always going to use more letters, more spaces, and more of the page.

Don't do it...and when you see someone else doing it, note to self and see if you don't start understanding how it works and why it works.
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bjamin
Posted: February 22nd, 2013, 8:34pm Report to Moderator
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Thanks, Dreamscale!


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Forgive
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 6:08am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from bjamin
Basically, I believe the easiest way to avoid this issue is simply by not using 'is' or 'are' before the verb. Bottom line is, verbs ending in 'ing' are not automatically passive.

http://writewow.blogspot.com/2008/01/active-and-passive-voice.html


Hi Butters. Your John August post is fine, but you need to ditch the 'writewow' blog link. The examples given are incorrect, and this is pointed out by a poster at the end of the post, and is acknowledged by the writer.

If people check the link briefly it's only going to lead to more confusion.

Simon


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bjamin
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 9:31am Report to Moderator
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will do.


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Guest
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 4:17pm Report to Moderator
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I get that this ‘ing’ thing is an issue and that many other things could be wrong with a script, but I wish I could read more posts on here where people focused on the story at hand instead of the grammatical errors, formatting, and other issues.  I see it a lot where someone brings up formatting and this and that, but hardly anything about the actual story in a script.  I can understand maybe posting a link or two for advice, but maybe comment on the story as well.
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Forgive
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 4:47pm Report to Moderator
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And you get that a script isn't attached to his thread? This is in the screenwriting class section? That's what this section is for.

If you want something in this section that focusses on a story aspect of script-writing, then just post one up.
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Dreamscale
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 4:55pm Report to Moderator
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Reap, listen, man...it's like this...

If a script isn't well written, or is downright poorly written, that's what jumps out.

The actual story/plot/whatever you want to call it, is rarely a highlight, even when a script is very well written.  But, no one's ever gong to know that because they're never going to read all the way, when there are rookie mistakes littering every page.

Passive writing is only 1 small issue with poor writing.  But, it's also 1 issue that's so simple to fix...or better yet, never do in the first place.
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Guest
Posted: February 23rd, 2013, 5:07pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Forgive
And you get that a script isn't attached to his thread? This is in the screenwriting class section? That's what this section is for.

If you want something in this section that focusses on a story aspect of script-writing, then just post one up.



Jeez, I didn’t mean for anyone to get so snappy.

I was still on topic, I still mentioned passive writing in my post.

I’m not going to start a whole new thread on any of this stuff, it’s not that big of an issue for me.


Quoted from Dreamscale
Reap, listen, man...it's like this...

If a script isn't well written, or is downright poorly written, that's what jumps out.

The actual story/plot/whatever you want to call it, is rarely a highlight, even when a script is very well written.  But, no one's ever gong to know that because they're never going to read all the way, when there are rookie mistakes littering every page.

Passive writing is only 1 small issue with poor writing.  But, it's also 1 issue that's so simple to fix...or better yet, never do in the first place.


I get where you’re coming from.

I tend to open up a script and try to push through it no matter what.

I can ignore some things - but if a script’s story/characters suck - I’ll x it out.

I’ll just drop out now, I don’t want anyone getting worked up over what I said.

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