Peter,
The passive examples we see as examples always look like 
misunderstood passives.  Your passive here--"was motivated"-- doesn't 
look like those  passives at all.

I think that teachers should ask, "Is this the most effective subject 
(or topic?)" --not "Why is this passive?"

Martha


>I've always suspected that the anti-passive prejudice was motivated 
>primarily by a desire to avoid seeming "passive."  Too bad we didn't 
>call it something else . . .
>
>Peter Adams
>
>
>On Mar 7, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Edgar Schuster wrote:
>
>>Craig may well be right about Orwell's sentiments; however, Orwell 
>>himself near the end of his essay offers a set of six "rules" (the 
>>word is his).  His fourth rule is "Never use the passive where you 
>>can use the active."  He doesn't say "where you can use the active" 
>>but not the passive.  But he uses passives in four of the first 15 
>>sentences of "Politics," and it's not at all difficult to 
>>substitute actives for each them.
>>Hurrah for Craig's "we need a more functional orientation to 
>>language so that choice can be built on something more than 
>>personal or group prejudice."
>>
>>Ed Schuster
>>
>>
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