RE: active vs. passive voice

["McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

On Behalf Of Nancy Allison observed:
> Paul says:
> 
> >We had some anti-appears people in our group, but we overcame them.
> >
> >Their argument against "appears": it made the software sound magical.
> 
> Yes, yes, yes! And in explaining this, their voices drip with disdain,
> they roll their eyes, and pitch their voices really high. When it's a
6'4"
> 350 lb biker guy doing the dripping, rolling, and pitching, it's
downright
> scary!
> 
> (And it's an association that is completely personal to them, not
shared
> by the great majority of people. I think. Though I do not have hard
data
> to support this claim. Maybe a foundation will give me a grant.)

Of course, some of those same people would tell you that they believe in
god and not be able to see the inherent inconsistency with their disdain
for "magic"...

When last I looked, lots and lots of things were able to (and often
quite frankly did so) appear with no magic other than the widely
available "magic" of nature.  I'm thinking of ... oh... the sun and the
moon. They appear almost every day. My cat has a knack for appearing
suddenly and without warning. The other cat, however, appears following
plenty of warning - she'd never make it as a hunter. 

Unfortunate references to impossible deadlines appear in documents and
semi-official e-mails, with alarming regularity, needing to be stamped
out with ruthless efficiency. 

Weeds used to appear throughout the lawn in my backyard, until finally I
declared the carpet of mint-related whatchamacallit to BE the lawn...
and then tufts of grass began appearing in mocking fashion.

On my daily commutes, people in cars do fascinatingly stupid things,
many of them appearing to do so with a certain guilt - others with every
appearance of deliberate and callous disregard.

The tip of my nose and, lately, the leading quadrant of my expanding
belly, seem to precede me, appearing at the entrances to rooms well
before the main body (so to speak) arrives.

Or so it would appear.

Kevin
 --
T'would appear that your argument lacks all validity, having been
delivered, as it was, with enthusiastic disdain for logic or fact.




Meow




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