# 15. Linguistic manipulation ## 15.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 15.5.4. Syntactic manipulation #### 15.5.4.1. Transitivity Transitive verbs are verbs which refer to an action by one person to another person, like "Peter hits Paul". The linguistic technique transitivity involves the use of verbs to transform a story from one involving an actor and a recipient equally into a story which focuses attention on the actor or recipient. For example, "Peter hits Paul" can become "Paul was hit by Peter". This often involves the use of the passive voice.