Dick wrote:

As a writing teacher as well as a grammar teacher, I'd like to raise the
larger question: Should we be training students to think passives are
automatically bad and always to be avoided?

I say:
Personally, I think it might be more effective to teach students WHEN
passives should be avoided, as well as when they might be precisely what
will best serve the writing.

Easier said than done, I know, but I guess that's my answer to what might be
a thorny question.

-patty

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