Page 143 - TX_Marketing 2_M1_v2

The clauses are reproduced above, and the verb phrase is highlighted in yellow and

the direct object is highlighted in red. Notice that if we draw an arrow from the verb
phrase to the direct object, then our arrow goes backwards towards the subject,

rather than forwards towards the predicate. To make the sentence active, we need

to fix both of these clauses. So how should we do that? Let's consider each one.

The first clause reads: "The sale price was rejected by the sellers." Remember, that

when present, the indirect object often offers us a perfectly good agent of action that
we can use to make a sentence active.

The indirect object of the sentence is "sellers."
Like many passive constructions, this one contains a perfectly good agent of action

just to the right on the verb phrase: "the sellers." This makes revising this sentence

even easier! Just move the indirect object (sellers) to the front of the sentence, and
make it the subject. And then, re-conjugate the verb to the noun "sellers", paying

attention to number, tense, and person. This changes our clause as indicated below:

The sale price was rejected by the sellersThe sellers rejected the sale price.

The sellers rejected the sale price.

Above, the direct object is highlighted in red and the verb is highlighted in yellow. If
you draw an arrow from the verb to the direct object, then which direction does it

go? Notice that the arrow moves forwards—towards the predicate. The clause is now

active.

The other clause currently reads:

"A counteroffer has been submitted."

TX Marketing II: Negotiation Techniques 142