I wish that this were true, Brock.

"Haussamen, Brock" wrote:

>
> I think one reason why the passive, like the split infinitve and the final
> preposition, harden into grammar rules is that such constructions are easy
> to spot; they are all essentially matters of word order.

I suggest a visit to the Plain English site:
http://www.plainlanguage.gov/

On that page you will see a link to "Getting Started"  At that page you
be directed to a link to WRITING USER-FRIENDLY DOCUMENTS. You will be
directed to the on-line version. Go to section 12, Use Active Voice.

Here you will find the following way to recognize the passive voice.
(It goes without saying that it should be avoided.)

The section begins with the following:

In an active sentence, the person or agency who is taking an action is
the
 subject of the sentence. In a passive sentence, the person or item that
is
 acted upon is the subject of the sentence.

. . . . . . .

How do you identify passive sentences?

 Passive sentences have two basic features, although both do not appear
in
 every passive sentence.

      A past participle (generally with "ed" on the end); and

      A form of the verb "to be."


Bob Yates, Central Missouri State University