From:                   David D Mulroy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Passive Horror Stories
> At the risk of seeming very ignorant or obtuse -- I am puzzled by Bob
> Yates's citation of the definition of the passive voice from the web site,
> Plain English.  It seems to me to be a good definition, especially
> the statement that the passive voice in English is normally created with a
> form of BE and a past participle.  Yet Bob seems to imply that there is
> something wrong with the presentation.  ("It goes without saying that it
> [this section of the web site] should be avoided," he says.)  Could he or
> someone else clarify?

I interpreted what Bob said this way:  "It goes without saying that
[according to this web site] it [the passive voice] should be
avoided."

I suppose what's wrong with the presentation is that students and
other ordinary people cannot identify passive voice because they
haven't the foggiest idea of what past participles are or what the
forms of the verb "to be" are, not to mention "agents" etc. etc.



R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Director, Intensive English Program
Eastern Mennonite University
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Office: (540) 432-4051
Home: (540) 574-4277
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"We are citizens of the world; and the tragedy
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