What do you think of someone using the word actually in every sentence?

Both are in active voice. First one has a lot of verbs and isn't "active" in the sense of having a lot of "action" (Lee's version has more) but grammatically it is active voice. It was not long--"was" is a copula (linking verb) here, which has no grammatical object: always active voice before he was very sorry--same that he had said (what he said): "said" is a transitive verb (has a grammatical object) so it could be in passive voice but it isn't.

Passive voice would mean the grammatical subject of the sentence is the thing being said. So for "that he had said" it would be "that what had been said by him" and for "what he said" it would be "what was said by him". The second one has a transitive verb so it could be in passive voice, which would be His words were soon repented by him.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.