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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/