Question: Read Bob Herbert's "Jim Crow Policing." You will notice that Herbert uses two patterns that are especially effective in his essays: (1) the passive voice and (2) word repetition.

The passive voice is applied to a verb in a sentence when the "doer" or actual "agent" of the action is after the verb in a "by" phrase or completely missing rather than before the verb. Also, a passive verb always includes a form of "be" and a past participle.

Examples: "is practiced," "was frisked," "has been stopped"

Agents can be added to a passive verb in a "by" phrase.

Passive: Racial profiling is practiced in New York (by the police).

Active: Police practice racial profiling in New York.

Writers often use the passive when they don't know or don't want to reveal the agent or "doer" of their action. Herbert relies heavily on the passive in his essay because in most cases he often doesn't know who was responsible for the action he is calling into question.

Herbert starts his essay with a sentence in the passive voice:

"The New York City Police Department needs to be restrained" [by whom?].

1. What other passive verbs do you see in this essay? What effect does this linguistic pattern have on you as a reader?

2. Notice that all the sentences after paragraph 12 are in the active voice. What effect does this shift from passive to active voice have on the message that Herbert is delivering?

3. Herbert also repeats specific words that capture the readers' attention and keep the focus on these particular concepts. Two examples are stop and frisk, which are repeated throughout the essay. Find three other words or parts of words that Herbert repeats in this essay. What is the effect of these repetitions?