Homework for 303: Action Verbs
Rewrite the following paragraph to replace passive constructions with active constructions, and to
replace nominalized "is" and "be" phrases with verbs.
In certain fiestas, the very of notion of order is obliterated. Chaos is returned and sense is prominent. Anything is permitted: the customary hierarchies are gone, along with all social, sex, caste, and trade distinctions. Men are dressed as women, gentlemen are disguised as slaves, the poor are mistaken for the rich. The army, the clergy, and the law are ridiculed by civilians. Obligatory sacrilege, ritual profanation is committed by many. Love is transformed into promiscuity. Sometimes the fiesta is like a Black Mass. Regulations, habits, and customs are violated and forgotten by law-abiding citizens. Respectable people who are isolated by their dignified expressions and conservative clothes are freed, hidden behind masks, dressed up in gaudy colors, and allowed to escape from themselves. The fiesta is a revolution in the most literal sense of the word. In the confusion that is generated by fiesta, society is dissolved, is deprived of air. Everything is united, including good and evil, day and night, the sacred and the profane. Shape and individuality are merged and returned to the primordial mass. Earth is allowed to be renewed by the orgy, a celebration that is sterile in itself.