ext_36147 ([identity profile] swisstone.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] the_lady_lily 2010-03-30 07:23 am (UTC)

That's the first time I've seen a legitimate argument for avoiding the passive voice, rather than the usual 'oh it's a bit confusing'. Of course, this argument falls down if the subject of one's passive construction is a person rather than an abstract concept, e.g. why should one automatically prefer 'the Spartans attacked the Athenians' over 'the Athenians were attacked by the Spartans'. And I do think that to banish the passive voice altogether is to lose something from the richness of the language.

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