active voice

in linguistics, the category of a verb in which the grammatical subject of the clause or sentence is the agent of the action and the grammatical object is its patient. The great majority of English sentences are constructed using the active voice. The active voice is illustrated by the sentence The thief stole the purse, as opposed to The purse was stolen by the thief. Compare passive voice.

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Psychology term of the day

October 18th 2024

social imperception disorder

a condition characterized by a lack of awareness of common social interaction processes and interpersonal behaviors and by difficulty in recognizing and understanding other people’s feelings and emotions.