Tutor profile: Carolyn B.

What is the passive voice? Give an example.

When we say that a sentence is written in the passive voice, that means the subject of the sentence is being acted on by the verb. The passive voice often uses the verb "to be" (am, are, is, was, were, etc.) The passive voice can create unnecessarily wordy and convoluted sentences, while the active voice conveys a strong, clear tone. Here is an example of active versus passive voice: Active: "The teacher closed the door." The subject ("teacher") does the action ("closed") to the object ("door"). Passive: "The door was closed by the teacher." The door is still the object of the sentence, but it is placed before the subject. The "to be" verb ("is") has to be inserted before the main verb ("closed") in order for the sentence to make sense.

What is intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how different social categories overlap and shape the life experiences of a person or group of people. These social categories include race, ethnicity, class, gender, ability, age, nationality, religious affiliation, etc. Intersectionality acknowledges how aspects of a person's or group's identity combine to create different modes of advantage and disadvantage.

Describe a good thesis statement.

A thesis statement is the central argument of an essay. Typically, a thesis statement is only one sentence that concisely expresses your main idea. A thesis has to do more than just restate an obvious fact about the text—if you could write your thesis statement after only reading the blub on the back of a book, then your thesis needs to be stronger. A good thesis statement will include the who (for example, the title and author of a work), the what (your argument about a specific topic), and the why (why does your topic matter? how does it relate to the wider world?).