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Subject:Re. Passive challenge [sic] From:geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA Date:Wed, 31 Jan 1996 08:51:36 -0600
"DLE", s/he of no sig line (!) posed the following
challenge: to reword the phrase "the leaves on the sidewalk
were kicked and scattered by passing feet" in active voice.
Not noting any "irony alert", emoticons or other clues
<grin>, I'd take this challenge seriously and reword this
as "passing feet kicked and scattered the leaves on the
sidewalk". Then again, I'd lose the "kicked and" as
redundant: it's implicit, since the feet can only scatter
the leaves by kicking them. Of course, if the act of
kicking is important, then so is the actor; "DLE kicked and
scattered the leaves..."
Let's start the clock ticking again: can anyone provide a
_good_ example of necessary passive voice?
--Geoff Hart @8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: If I didn't commit it in print in one of our
reports, it don't represent FERIC's opinion.
