Re: Do windows appear?

[Reinhard Jaehnig <RJaehnig -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

In einer eMail vom 10.08.1996  07:14:09, schreiben Sie:

>I don't like the "is displayed" construction for two reasons.
>        1) It is a passive voice construction and I prefer active voice.
>        2) "display" is a transitive verb. It must be followed by a direct
>                object.

Hello John,

There is a flaw in your reasoning; you say:

   "display" is a transitive verb. It must be followed by a direct object.

Now, what happens when we transform active into passive voice:
the direct object of the active construction becomes the subject
of the passive construction; the subject of the active construction
- if it is expressed at all - is expressed using a prepositional
construction:

Active: "Word displays the Print window."
Passive: "The Print window is displayed (by Word)."

You continue:

   "That gets a bit tedious all the time to keep on having
    to name the program that is doing the action."

This is actually one of the two most common reasons for using
the passive voice:

1) You don't know the subject of the action.
2) You don't want to name the subject of the action.

IMHO, there is nothing wrong with "The Print window is displayed."

Greetings
Reinhard

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