Thanks for the compliments on the "tricks" for sorting out passives. I 
wonder if Carol also found them helpful.

There is one important strategy I didn't discuss: one should always 
supply at least a few sentences of context to help students see which 
reading makes more sense. I explained the sentences without supplying 
context, which is bad modeling for actual teaching. So, for example, I 
would present the "surround" examples in a context:

1. The enemy scouts observed the castle from the safety of the woods. It 
was surrounded by a wide moat, and had massive wooden gates that guarded 
the entrances. Tall towers allowed for spotting armies from a good 
distance away. It seemed an attack from the woods would be the only 
possibility.

2. The guards on the towers were startled by a sudden, speedy rush of 
enemy from the woods. Before they could muster all their men, the castle 
was surrounded by the enemy horde. Archers were called to the 
battlements, and fires were lit beneath huge cauldrons of oil. The 
battle began in earnest.

Maybe a stylist would object to the heavy use of passive in the second 
passage, but at least it demonstrates the dynamic reading of "surround".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: 
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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