Changing Passive Into Active

Changing the passive into the active

***The following paragraph is the opening of the second paragraph, of the Declaration of Independence, by Thomas Jefferson. The highlighted sentences/phrases/clauses were written in passive voice.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equally, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

***The following is a re-write of the preceding paragraph—the opening of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence—replacing the passive voice statements/sentences with an active voice construction. (And I have taken some liberty and switched some of the format/wording of some of the other sentences.)

We: humanity, hold these truths to self-evident, that the Creator made all men equal, and the Creator endowed man with certain unalienable Rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Men institute Governments; thus Government derives its power from the consent of the governed. If government develops plans/laws to become destructive of these Rights, it is the duty and Right of the People to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its...