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> Never use the passive where you can use the active. Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the tu

• atdt 15y ago
  > Pretty sure this is written in the passive voice. No. > (The New York Times book review didn't call it "the turgid, self-righteous and philosophically hopeless ‘Politics and the English language’" for nothing.) Perhaps not, but I bet they supported that assessment with something more deliberate than a hand-wave to authority.
• wisty 15y ago
  > Never use the passive where you can use the active. It's an imperative. A passive changes a word like "use" or "used" into "was / is used". "He used a passive" becomes "A passive was used". "He will use a passive" becomes "A passive will be used". "Never use a passive" becomes "A passive should never be used". The point of a passive is it obscures (or de-emphasises) the person who is doing something. It's used by scientists to sound more impartial "I derived an equation" becomes "an equation was derived". In some cases, the actor isn't important, but it's often just used to make it sound like all due process was followed (by the person who's trying to avoid getting blamed). And yes, I just used a passive.