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Monday, January 24, 2011

The Passive vs Active in English

I don't usually cover language details here in this blog.  When I took writing courses in the enterprise I was taught to carefully avoid the 'passive voice', and use the more powerful  'active'.   Near canonical  resources like Strunk & White also made the same recommendation.  In the Language Log blog, the authors make a careful, sometimes technical review of passive vs active, and come to the conclusion that the passive is not as bad as your English teacher or writing coach advised you.   Using it wisely puts you in league with many of the best known writers of written English. Good piece if you like the complexities of our language.

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