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RE: Active versus passive (WAS Displays versus Appears-Which One?)
Subject:RE: Active versus passive (WAS Displays versus Appears-Which One?) From:"Kim McGarghan" <kmcgarghan -at- nssolutions -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 18 Dec 2000 11:21:47 -0500
I just *know* the archives must be full of references about this, but...
The rules regarding active versus passive voice seem to boil down to this:
In active voice, the subject of the sentence takes the action of the verb.
In passive voice, the subject takes no action of its own.
Passive voice may be the best choice when describing a process.
(Derived from this nifty book on grammar I just bought this weekend: The
Grammar Bible, Michael Strumpf and Auriel Douglas, Knowledgeopolis, 2000,
ISBN 1-891-968-00-9, Paperback, $24.95 US. http://www.knowledgeopolis.com)
(I agree with Donn Le Vie about clarity being the decisive factor.)
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